Beijing: Twenty-one people killed after a fire broke out in the east wing of the inpatient department of a hospital in China’s capital Beijing on Tuesday. A total of 71 people were evacuated and transferred after the rescue work and 21 died after being hospitalized for treatment.
Smoke can be seen blowing out of several hospital windows as people attempted to escape the fire. In the videos that went viral on social media, a person can be seen using the ropes made from bedsheets to descend from window to a lower level terrace.
Hospital fires in China are rare and the cause of this incident is still unknown. The blaze is one of the most deadly in Beijing in the recent years, surpassing a toll from a fire in 2017 that killed 19 in a cramped two-story building in Daxing district in capital’s southern subhub.
The latest tragedy has now prompted the authorities to demolish the large swathes of buildings deemed illegal or unsafe in neighborhood. Further, it has forced thousands of migrant workers to move out of their homes and businesses.