Palakkad (Kerala) | A fire broke out at a state-run hospital in this district of Kerala in the small hours of Sunday, police said.

The fire was found inside the nurses' dress changing room, adjacent to the women's ward in tbe District Hospital here by 3.00 am, they said.

As smoke was found billowing inside the room where some medicines were also stored, patients in the adjacent wards were soon evacuated and shifted to safer places.

"Everybody is safe and no one sustained any injury. As per the preliminary assumption, short circuit was the reason for the sudden fire," a police officer said.

Fireforce personnel soon rushed to the hospital and doused the flames within a few minutes, he added.