At least 70 patients died due to suffocation from smoke when a massive fire broke out early on Friday in the centrally-airconditioned seven-storey private hospital at Dhakuria in the southern fringes of the metropolis.

The toll is expected to rise, said fire officials who battled the blaze which was spotted around 3:30 AM.

As smoke billowed out, firemen using ladders with platforms smashed window panes in the facade of the building to rescue patients trapped inside the ICU, ICCU, Intensive Therapy Unit and Critical Care units.

Patients with rope tied around them were brought down by the firemen as their relatives watched in horror the tragedy unfolding before them.

The fire at the seven-storey annexe building of the hospital was detected at around 3:30 AM by local people who rushed to the gates, but were driven away by the security guards, following which the fire spread swiftly, West Bengal Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said.

The fire brigade had difficulty in entering the hospital premises as the approach roads were narrow, he said.

Senior vice president of AMRI S Upadhay said there were 160 patients in the 190-bed annexe building at the time of the fire. "80 to 85 per cent were rescued by the fire brigade and local people," he said.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who rushed to the spot, said authorities of the SSKM Hospital have been instructed to immediately open emergency units for treatment of the injured.

She was also seen consoling the families of the victims.

Public health engineering minister Subrata Mukherjee said the state government will take strong action against the AMRI group for the death of patients.

The state government has ordered an inquiry into the incident.

Hakim said 250 firemen in 25 fire engines battled the blaze and smoke. A police cordon was thrown around the hospital.

Family members of patients vandalised the reception counter aggrieved that no list of the dead and injured was provided. They smashed glass panes at the reception and threw away hospital registers.

The fire which was suspected to have originated in the electrical department in the basement of the building swiftly spread, with the third floor and above being affected the most, fire brigade sources said.

Fire services minister Javed Khan said the fire spread because of stocks of highly combustible material and though it was controlled the smoke was causing problems.

The hospital also did not have proper fire-fighting equipment, he said.

Banerjee, who is also the health minister, directed the SSKM authorities to make arrangements for post-mortem of the bodies being taken from the AMRI Hospital.

She said that family members of patients complained to her against the hospital authorities that there was lack of fire-fighting arrangements.

Banerjee requested family members to go to the SSKM Hospital to help identify the bodies.

Upadhay announced Rs 5 lakh as compensation for the next of kin of those who died, while those injured would be treated free at the hospital.

He claimed that the hospital was equipped with state-of- the-art fire-fighting equipment and regular fire drills were conducted.

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Govt to take action against hospital

The West Bengal government will take action against the AMRI Hospital where 70 patients suffocated to death after a fire broke out in its premises on Friday.

"The state government will take strong action against the AMRI group for the death of so many patients after completion of the rescue operations," public health engineering minister Subrata Mukherjee told reporters after visiting the hospital.

"It was horrifying that the hospital authorities did not make any effort to rescue trapped patients," Mukherjee said.

"Senior hospital authorities ran away after the fire broke out," he said.

Licence of AMRI Hospital, Dhakuria stands cancelled

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on friday directed cancellation of the licence of AMRI hospital at Dhakuria where 70 patients died in a devastating fire.

"I have received the chief minister's directive for cancellation of the licence of the hospital for which steps are being taken," Disaster Management Minister Javed Khan told PTI.

He also said that an FIR against the hospital authorities has been lodged under non-bailable sections on the direction of the chief minister.

Basement meant for car parking used as inflammable goods store

The basement of the fire-ravaged AMRI Hospital here was used for storing inflammable articles and not for car parking, a senior corporation official alleged.

Kolkata Municipal Corporation DG (building) Devasish Kar alleged  that the basement was being used for storing combustible articles and not for car parking for which it was meant when the building was constructed in 2004-5.

"It is an administrative lapse," Kar said.

Mayor Sovan Chatterjee has called a high-level meeting with Building department officials to review the fate of the hospital building.

70 patients were killed when the fire swept through the hospital building this morning.