Blaze at Chinese hospital leaves 38 dead, 24 unaccounted for

BEIJING, Friday (AFP) - A fire that swept through a hospital in northeastern China has left 38 people dead and some 24 others unaccounted for, state media said Friday, as officials launched a probe into the cause of the blaze.

Rescuers found 24 bodies in the smoldering remains of the biggest hospital in Liaoyuan city, Jilin province, while 14 others later died of their injuries, a provincial official was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

The fire broke out at about 4:30 pm local time Thursday at the Liaoyuan City Center Hospital, and was extinguished by 10:30 pm when rescue and search operations began, Xinhua said.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the fire, which swept through four four-story buildings according to witnesses, began in a power distribution room, Xinhua reported. Authorities were pursuing their inquiry.

"I saw people jumping out of the window and many of them got injured. I'm sorry I could not do anything to help," one unnamed witness said.

One patient, 43-year-old Wang Mingwen, told the state-run agency that he escaped from a third-floor ward by tying his bed quilt to a heating pipe and climbing down from the window, but his wife fell and was seriously injured.

Some 5,000 square meters (53,800 square feet) of hospital space was destroyed in the blaze, according to the report.

More than 10 fire engines and ambulances were rushed to the scene, and additional emergency vehicles were dispatched from the provincial capital Changchun, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) away, and from nearby Yitong county.

City officials contacted by AFP Friday refused to reveal how many people had been killed or injured in the blaze.

A spokesman for the Liaoyuan city government told AFP by phone that information on the blaze was being controlled by provincial officials but a local spokesman refused to comment.