Hospital Fire Kills 21 In Beijing

Beijing: In a heart-wrenching tragedy, at least 21 people were killed in a hospital fire in the Chinese capital here on Tuesday.

The fire broke out in the east wing of the inpatient department of Changfeng Hospital, the Beijing Daily reported.

The fire broke out in the afternoon and it took about an hour for an emergency team to extinguish it.

Unconfirmed videos showed panic-stricken people jumping out of windows in desperation th save their lives.

A total of 71 people were evacuated from the hospital and transferred to hospitals for treatment by the rescue teams.

Of those affected by the fire, 21 succumbed to their injuries.

The cause of the blaze is still being investigated.

“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 netizen wrote.

Hospital fires are rare in China, and the cause of the blaze is still being investigated.