No casualty or injury was reported as all patients, including pregnant and lactating women and newborns, were immediately shifted from the floor, sources said.

“I got information about the fire around midnight and immediately Fire Service personnel were called in to douse the flames. All patients are safe,” ADMO Ranjan Mitra told the media.

He further said that an attendant rushed on hearing a call bell installed besides beds on the floor. “When the patient denied having pressed the bell, the attendant realised that it could be due to a short circuit. Soon, they spotted a fire and the department was engulfed in smoke,” the ADMO added.

Prima facie, it appears that the fire broke out due to an electric short circuit though the actual cause is yet to be ascertained. Further probe is underway.

As per reports, the local people found smoke coming out of the windows of the post-graduate department of Economics in the college campus in the evening and informed the Fire Brigade.

The Fire service personnel rushed to the college and found the office of the department on fire. They managed to extinguish the flames in a short time.

But the college sources said several important files and other documents besides furniture in the office room have turned into ashes. Nobody has been injured in the incident, but stationery products worth lakhs of rupees have been destroyed, they added.

Though the exact cause of fire has not been ascertained, short circuit in electricity supply is suspected to have ignited the fire.

The mishap took place in a house at Badabiruhan village under the jurisdiction of Panikoili police station in the district.

The two women, who sustained critical burns, have been shifted to the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack after first aid at a hospital in Jajpur Road. They were identified as Sarita Swain and her daughter-in-law Madhusmita Swain.

As per preliminary information, house owner Kamalakanta Swain was fitting the regulator it started leaking and caught fire from a lamp lit for puja.

Kamalakanta and two of their neighbours have also sustained burn injuries in the mishap.

According to sources, all patients undergoing treatment on the floor were immediately shifted to safer places. Fire Services personnel rushed to the spot on being alerted and efforts are on to douse the flames.

Though the reason behind the outbreak of fire is yet to be ascertained, electrical short circuit is being suspected to have caused the mishap.