Taiwan hospital fire kills 12, injures 60

At least 12 people were killed and 60 injured when a blaze tore through a hospital in southern Taiwan today, health authorities said.

At least 12 people were killed and 60 injured when a blaze tore through a hospital in southern Taiwan on Tuesday, health authorities said.

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The fire started in the early hours in a nursing facility housing mainly bed-bound senior patients in Tainan city and more than 100 patients were evacuated during the incident, a local health official said.

An earlier estimate by an official had placed the number of injured at 72 but this was revised down in a health department statement.

The cause of all the deaths was believed to be smoke inhalation while the injured were rushed to a dozen hospitals for treatment, the official said.

It was the worst hospital fire in recent years and the cause of the fire is under investigation, she said.

A fire official told reporters that the blaze possibly started in a storage room on the second floor of the five-floor building, part of the public Sinying Hospital.

Television footage showed the burnt-out second floor and bed- and wheelchair-bound patients being carried out to the hospital's lawn.

Relatives of the patients rushed to the hospital seeking their whereabouts as health minister Chiu Wen-ta assured the public that the authorities will identify the patients as soon as possible, according to TVBS cable news channel.