What happened: Twenty-one people were killed after a fire broke out Tuesday in a hospital in the western part of Beijing, the official newspaper Beijing Daily reported.
The blaze was one of the deadliest in the capital city in recent years. In November 2017, a fire in an apartment block killed 19 and injured eight.
The fire occurred around noon Tuesday in the east wing of the inpatient department of Changfeng Hospital in the Fengtai District. The fire was extinguished at around 13:33.
Rescue work was completed by 15:30, and 71 people were evacuated, according to Beijing Daily. The cause of the fire in under investigation.
From the scene: A witness told Caixin that the hospital building was covered in heavy black smoke when he arrived around 13:00. “Some people said the fire started from the top three floors,” the person said.
A couple in their 60s said they were unable to reach their 40-year-old child, who was a patient in a ward on the eighth floor. The couple arrived at the scene Tuesday night and filed information with the authorities. The hospital has poor management and allows patients to cook for themselves, the couple said.
The east wing of the Changfeng Hospital is an eight-story building with around 16 wards on each floor. The fourth floor showed the worst signs of damage by fire, Caixin reporters found.
Changfeng Hospital is a leading hospital chain specializing in hemangioma and vascular malformation disease. It runs over 20 hospitals across the country. The Beijing facility was established in 2009.
Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bob.simison@caixin.com)
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