Bengaluru: At least 24 patients died in Chamarajanagar district, about 175km from Bengaluru, in the last 24 hours. The incident happened at the district government hospital, according to people aware of the developments. In the last 24 hours there have been 24 deaths, it didn’t happen all of a sudden,” Ravi, district health officer of Chamarajanagar told Hindustan Times.

On a specific question, if these people died due to a shortage of oxygen, the district health officer said that this was not the case. “All of them (deceased) were on ventilators, comorbidities and other things and not lack of oxygen,” he added.

Though the sequence of incidents remains unclear at this moment, the state government has gone into a huddle.

Karnataka’s home minister, Basavaraj Bommai, has asked for a detailed report and a probe into the incident.

The incident also places emphasis on the fact that all may not be well in Karnataka where the government has repeatedly tried to reassure that it has an adequate supply of oxygen, medicines, vaccines and crematoriums even though the ground realities paint a very different picture. Meanwhile, Congress mounted an attack on the ruling BJP in Karnataka following the death of 24 people. “Died or Killed? My heartfelt condolences to their families. How much more suffering before the ‘system’ wakes up?” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted. The All India Congress Committee general secretary and Karnataka in charge, Randeep Singh Surjewala demanded the arrest of the health minister. “This is murder by designed negligence of Yediyurappa Govt! The Health Minister must resign. Will CM Yediyurappa ji own moral responsibility for the deaths?” Surjewala tweeted.