KUALA LUMPUR: The fire which destroyed a portion of the Kuala Lumpur Hospital’s (HKL) forensics department was caused by a short circuit at its store.
The fire spread quickly from the store as it was used to house medical equipment, mainly made of plastic.
Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue Services department director Khirudin Drahman said two workers who were in the store were momentarily trapped in the building in the 12.15pm blaze.
They were however rescued from the building after firemen arrived at the scene about 12.30pm.
Firefighters from the Chow Kit, Hang Tuah, Setapak and Jalan Tun Razak were involved in putting out the blaze, which saw patients and staff being evacuated from the building.
Hospital staff also managed to remove about 150 oxygen tanks which were kept in the store before the fire spread.
Firemen later also helped in removing 19 corpses from the mortuary as the electrical supply was cut off due to the short circuit.
Khirudin said the store was destroyed but firemen managed to prevent the fire from spreading to other parts of the building.
He said the blaze was brought under control in 30-minutes.
In a statement issued later, HKL director Dr Nor Akma Yusuf said that the fire started in a store at the forensics unit and that all were evacuated safely.
She said the hospital operations were however not affected by the blaze.
There were also no injuries reported in the blaze.