Kottayam (Kerala) | A massive fire broke out at the under construction building of a state-run Medical College Hospital here on Monday but was brought under control within hours, officials said.

Fire tenders from Kottayam and neighbouring towns were rushed to the spot to douse the fire, they said.

There were no occupants in the building that caught fire.

There is no report of any casualty but the incident created panic among the patients and their attendants staying in the neighbouring block in which the psychiatric, medicine wards and Intensive Care for Dialysis patients were operating.

They were evacuated to safety as a precaution, officials added.

Many of them even had rushed out of the wards screaming and crying.

Officials said the incident was reported at 12 noon in the eight-storey building under construction for the general surgery ward of the Medical College hospital.

The workers who were sorting the garbage and bagging it were the first to see the smoke billowing from inside the building.

They informed the hospital authorities, who immediately alerted the fire brigade.

The construction workers ran out of the building. The first fire brigade from Kottayam reached the spot 45 minutes after the fire broke out.