An oxygen chamber used to speed up recovery of patients from various maladies blew up in a Russian hospital on Saturday, setting two floors alight and smashing windows in a nearby building, authorities said
CHELYABINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st October, 2020) An oxygen chamber used to speed up recovery of patients from various maladies blew up in a Russian hospital on Saturday, setting two floors alight and smashing windows in a nearby building, authorities said.
"A fire caused an oxygen chamber to explode in City Hospital No 2 in Chelyabinsk. Firefighters and emergency service workers are at the scene," the regional health authority said in a statement.
The blaze spread over an area of 1,400 square feet, engulfing two floors and prompting a speedy evacuation. City health chief Natalia Gorlova said all of the 158 patients had been rescued unharmed. There were no casualties.
More than 20 residents in a nearby high-rise had to be evacuated after the blast shattered windows. A spokeswoman for the city administration said the building had been "seriously damaged" and would be inspected before people were allowed back into their homes.
Yuri Burenko, the head of the regional emergencies agency, said the exploded oxygen chamber had been installed only recently and suggested that it could have been assembled in a wrong way.
"The equipment is new. It was put together several days ago and was used for the first time today. They might have assembled or used it wrongly," the official suggested at an emergency meeting.
Chelyabinsk Governor Alexei Teksler has declared a state of emergency in the district, ordering a full inspection of all newly installed medical equipment used for oxygen therapy, specifically that installed at hospitals that have been set up in recent months.
