Noida: The multi-storey Metro Hospitals and Heart Institute in Sector-12 where a fire broke out on Thursday, trapping several people inside the, did not renew its fire licence. Gautam Buddh Nagar Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Arun Kumar Singh said the hospital did not renew its fire licence from over five months.

"The hospital authorities had got a license from the fire department in March 2017, but they did not get it renewed from over five months," Gautam Budh Nagar Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Arun Kumar Singh told media.

The second floor of the hospital, where the fire broke out, has already been sealed and the cause of the fire was short circuit that occurred in a water heater which was placed inside the recovery area of the hospital where patients are kept for sometime after being discharged from Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Gautam Buddh Nagar District Magistrate B N Singh Thursday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the fire incident at Metro Hospitals and Heart Institute in Noida.  "I have ordered a magisterial probe into the incident. The city magistrate has been asked to submit his report within 15 days," Singh told media.

According to authorities, more than 60 people were inside the hospital when the incident occurred and no casualty was reported in the incident. 10 fire tenders were rushed to spot and the situation was brought under control.

Staffers tried to help patients out of the building in Noida, a suburban town in Uttar Pradesh on the outskirts of the national capital. Thick smoke could be seen billowing out of the building. People stood on ledges and on balconies as rescuers tried to reach them by smashing glass window panes.

In December 2017, a similar incident took place at the Metro Hospital and Cancer Institute in east Delhi's Preet Vihar area.  The hospital had two buildings and one of them did not have a fire No Objection Certificate (NOC).  Later, the hospital demolished the two buildings and built a single structure which also did not have the NOC.