Taiwan: Hospital fire, 12 dead

A fire this morning, October 23, at a hospital in southern Taiwan killed at least 12 people and injured 60, mostly elderly people.

A hospital room after the fire this morning - Photo: AP

AFP reported that the fire started early in the morning at Hsinying Hospital in Tainan city, where most of the patients were elderly people lying in bed.

Taiwanese television showed the second floor of the five-story building burning to the ground and elderly patients in wheelchairs and bedridden patients being carried onto the grass on the hospital grounds. More than 100 people were evacuated from the fire area.

Local health officials said the number of people injured from burns and smoke inhalation was initially reported at 72 but later lowered to 60. The deaths were determined to be due to toxic smoke inhalation.

It is the worst fire in Taiwan's healthcare sector in years and the cause of the fire is under investigation. A fire department official said the fire may have started in a storage room on the second floor of the building.

According to Tuoi Tre - DT