Twenty-four doctors and three others were rescued after a major fire broke out at Hotel Fortune near Metro cinema in Mumbai on Wednesday night, PTI reported.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had arranged temporary accommodation for healthcare professionals, deployed on the frontlines to combat the coronavirus pandemic, in hotels and lodges. The 24 rescued were resident doctors at a local hospital and three others were guests of the hotel, a fire brigade official told the news agency. Five of these doctors were rescued using ladders and breathing apparatus sets.

The fire broke out at 11 pm at the five-storey Hotel Fortune and spread till the third floor. Eight fire engines were sent to the spot and it took nearly three hours to contain it, officials said.

The blaze was confined to the building’s duct and common passages. The cause of the fire is not known yet.

Last month, a major fire broke out in a lodging room of Hotel Ripon near Mumbai Central, which was being used as a quarantine facility by the civic authority.