As bodies of AMRI Hospital fire victims are brought out of the annexe, it is the patients in the adjacent old building who are facing severe problems due to lack of attention as most staff have fled the premises, fearing wrath of the relatives of the 70 people killed Friday.

"There is a severe staff crunch today (Friday), especially of nurses and ayahs... my father didn't get his daily dose of medicines since morning. There is nobody to even serve a glass of water. Only one or two nurses are there and they are having a tough time in tackling all the patients," said Akhilesh Pandey, whose father was admitted at the hospital last week.

"I don't know where the nurses have gone. Even the ayah whom I pay every day is not present here, I got the news early in the morning," said Ronnen Roy, relative of another patient."I thank god that my uncle is safe but there is nobody to care for him. Even the doctor who pays regular visit has not turned up."

"I think the nurses and most of the hospital staffs have fled fearing the wrath of the relatives. There is hardly a person to man the help desk of the hospital," said Tapas Das, whose relative is also admitted.

"I have seen signs of public wrath at the entrance of the first floor with most of the glass planes completely smashed," he added.

Most of the wards of the old building have virtually turned into a morgue as bodies from the fire devastated building were kept there before being moved out for post-mortem examinations.

The first three floors of the old building have been taken over by either police officials or relatives of the deceased. The rooms of the doctors and the nurses were lying vacant.

The relatives alleged that some wards have been filled with more patients than their capacity in order to make room for the bodies.

"My sister-in-law was in a different ward. She has been shifted in a new ward, and we were not even informed about it," said Shyamal Pal.

More than 70 patients in Kolkata's wellknown AMRI Hospital were killed along with three staffers when a blaze started in the basement of the annexe building early Friday and toxic fumes quickly spread to the other floors, trapping hundreds of people.

The tragedy unfolded over many hours as patients were suffocated to death, some trapped in their beds, others dying in their sleep, too infirm to escape the smoke. The lucky few were brought down the side of the four-storey glass facade building, built only six years ago, using ropes and ladders as thousands looked on in horror.

Co-founded by the Emami & Shrachi Groups along with the West Bengal government in 1996, the hospital that was once rated as amongst India's best is located in the fairly upscale Dhakuria neighbourhood.