Fire kills 21 at hospital in China’s capital: report
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Twenty-one people have been killed after a fire broke out in the east wing of the inpatient department of a hospital in China’s capital Beijing, the Beijing Daily reports.
The fire broke out at 12.57pm and was extinguished at 1.33pm after an emergency team rushed to the scene of the accident in Beijing’s Changfeng Hospital, according to the Beijing Daily.
Staff removed 71 patients after the fire broke out on Tuesday.
As of 6pm, 21 people had died after being transferred to hospital for treatment, the Beijing Daily reported.
Videos of the fire circulating on social media show black smoke billowing from the building, with some people climbing out of the windows using what appears to be makeshift ropes made out of bedsheets.
Others took refuge on air conditioning units outside the windows.
“It’s tragic. I can see the accident from the window of my house. A lot of people were standing on the air conditioning unit at noon, and some even jumped off,” a user on social media platform Weibo wrote.
Most of the hospital building appeared to be without power late on Tuesday, with only a few windows illuminated by the flickering torches of workers inside.
The exterior of the building was blackened and charred in places, and police cars could be seen parked at the north entrance.
There was no official word by early on Wednesday on how many of the dead were patients or the number of people who may have been injured.
Hospital fires are rare in China, and the cause of the blaze is still being investigated.
with AP
Reuters
