PATNA/MUZAFFARPUR, June 5 -- Radha Devi, around, 95, was one of the ICU patients and could have been among victims of Prasad Hospital fire on Thursday had her instincts not rescued her, and, in the wake, lives of some others. As she sensed smoke filling her ward, she removed her oxygen mask, got off her bed and rushed to inform the nurse on duty and the hospital guard. Her vigilance put the staff on duty and patients to hurry up rescue efforts. Unfortunately, the non-functional emergency hydraulic system and a diminished number of staff due to it being still a night, five patients still lost their lives and 20 others suffered injuries. However, the hospital was able to call the fire brigade on time and a tragedy that could be bigger was brought under control. Devi is now being called "bahadur dadi" in Muzaffarpur. While many managed to run out of smoke and fire, some, already crippled by some ailments or other afflictions, couldn't survive the deadly fire that spread fast and the smoke created by it suffocated patients. It was a narrow escape for Uday Kumar's family -- wife Neelu Devi, son Satyam and daughter Akanksha were in the hospital when smoke started filling the ICU on fifth floor of Prasad Hospital. Kumar was one of five fire victims. Sangeeta Kumari, whose father-in-law Brijnandan was admitted in the ICU after a road accident four days ago, said, "We had sold the land for his treatment. I was sitting outside the ICU at around 3 am on Thursday morning. Suddenly there was a state of panic in the ward. The patients and their families tried to get out by breaking the windows of the doors and windows. When I peeked into the ICU, my father-in-law was surrounded by flames. I wanted to run inside to save them, but the fire was so terrible that I couldn't move a step further. My father-in-law died in front of my eyes and I was unable to do anything." Another victim, Geeta Devi's, son Anish Thakur said that her mother was admitted to the hospital on June 1 and was on dialysis. "She died even before her proper treatment could take place," he lamented. Dheeraj Giri, a local said, " I was sleeping on the roof of the hospital. Suddenly, there was a scream. When I came down, people were trying to save their lives. Some people were scolding the hospital staff. The smoke in the ward was so dense that nothing was visible. Smoke filled nearly two floors of the hospital, I thought that someone might be trapped inside, I somehow mustered courage and ran inside the hospital. After I went inside, I couldn't see anything due to smoke. It was dark and stifling," said Giri. Keshav, 30, son of a patient Sanjeev Prasad, said that suddenly people started shouting about fire. "I also opened my eyes. I saw that most people were running downstairs, while some people showed courage. I took out two to three bodies on my hands. There was no movement in the bodies. Most of the hospital staff had fled after the fire, they should have helped the patients, alerted the patients, but instead of doing so, they fled to save their lives," he said. The Prasad hospital, which was started in 2014, established itself as a multi-specialty healthcare centre for the past decade. The chief medical director of the hospital is Dr Upendra Prasad, while the board of directors has Dr Abhinav Kumar Singh and Abhishek Kumar Singh. The hospital was inaugurated by the then chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi. The hospital is located on an open location in Brahmpura police station area and has two lifts for patients and attendants. The 125-bed hospital operates ICU, NICU, operation theatre, dialysis and various super-specialty departments including Orthopaedics, General Surgery, Paediatrics, General medicine and Cardiology. A large number of patients from Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Shivhar, East and West Champaran, Darbhanga and Nepal border area come here for treatment....