A pre-dawn fire killed 10 critically ill patients at the trauma care unit of the premier SCB Medical College and Hospital here, among them a centenarian who was to be discharged on Monday.

Anguished relatives, including the son of 100-year-old Cheru Parida, who were spending the night on the premises, said they had seen the smoke and rushed to help but security personnel would not let them enter.

“Had we been allowed in, we could have saved them (the patients). But we were asked to vacate the area. Only at 8am were we informed that our father had passed away,” Cheru’s younger son Harihara, a day labourer, said.

One of the dead — Abdul Satar, 80 — was from Dhansola in Jhargram, Bengal, and was being treated for a head injury.

Fifteen patients were being treated at the trauma care unit, part of the ICU on the first floor of a three-storey building. Five were evacuated to safety after the fire broke out at 2.45am and remain under trauma care in different wards.

All those who died were on ventilator or oxygen support. While the hospital had not issued a statement till evening, it appeared they had died of suffocation. The bodies at the morgue showed no burns.

Eleven hospital staff suffered minor burns trying to rescue the patients.

Officials attributed the fire to a short circuit.

The Odisha government has ordered a judicial inquiry and a fire services probe to identify the cause of the fire and any safety lapses. A fact-finding team of senior officials is to submit a report tothe chief secretary by Monday night.

Cheru’s son Harihara said: “My father had been admitted after suffering injuries from a bull attack on March 6. He was transferred to SCB by the local hospital.”

The resident of Subarnapur village in Angul district, about 110km from Cuttack, added: “He was about to be discharged from the trauma care unit. I was sleeping outside the ICU when people started shouting about a fire. We tried to enter (the ICU) but the security personnel refused us entry.”

Satar’s grandson, Shaikh Hafizuddin, said: “I woke up to chaos and tried to enter the ICU, but security officials blocked me. All my efforts were in vain. It was a terrible death. They died ofsuffocation.”

Pramananda Biswal, 41, said: “The security personnel should have let us enter the ICU. I could have lifted my father, Krushna Chandra Biswal, from the ICU bed to outside. All of themdied virtually in front of us, and we were not able todo anything.”

Krushna Chandra was 75.

Nirmala Barik, wife of victim Gouranga Charan Barik, 40, wept outside the morgue.

“I have lost everything,” she said. “There is no one left to support me. How can I live without him?”

Speaking off the record, a hospital official said: “Had we allowed the relatives in, there would have been chaos.”

He emphasised that 11 staff members had suffered injuries trying to rescue the patients, implying there had been no lack of effort.

A senior hospital official said that everything had been fine until the early hours.

“There was a spell of rain. The power went off and the backup inverter was switched on,” the source said.

“The casualty officer first noticed smoke inside the ICU, which seemed to be coming from the AC unit. But within minutes, everything appeared normal (the smoke stopped). But after five minutes, the entire ICU was again engulfed in smoke.

“The fire extinguisher was used. Despite the efforts of the officials present at the ICU, the blaze could not be controlled.”

By the time the fire tenders arrived, it was too late.

A photograph obtained from a hospital source showed a severely damaged trauma care unit. Journalists were not allowed in on Monday.

Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi visited the hospital and spoke to the survivors. He later announced an ex-gratia of ₹25 lakh for the next of kin of the dead.

In a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced ₹2 lakh each for the families of the dead and ₹50,000 for the injured.

Apart from Cheru, Satar, Biswal and Barik, the dead include Ramesh Chandra Parida, 45, Dasru Munda, 65, M.D. Nyum, 35, Madhusudan Dalai, 56, Rabindra Das, 30, and Menaka Rout, 70.