Chinese authorities announced on Wednesday that a hospital fire in Beijing that killed 29 people has resulted in the detention of a dozen individuals.
The fire broke out at around 1 p.m. on Tuesday nearby time at Beijing's Changfeng Emergency clinic. Social media videos of the fire show smoke billowing from the multistory, white hospital. People who were trapped in the building climbed out of the hospital's windows and into air conditioning units, where they sat on bedsheets in a desperate attempt to escape.
According to the authorities, patients were among the 26 victims of the fire. The remaining three were a patient's family member, a medical assistant, and a nurse. According to reports from Chinese media, at least 71 patients have been saved.
The reason for the fire is as yet being examined, as per authorities in Beijing. However, they stated that they believe it was caused by welding sparks from the hospital's inpatient wing construction.
Twelve individuals, including the head of the hospital, her deputy, and construction workers, were detained by authorities.
In the capital of China, large-scale building fires are uncommon. 19 people were killed in a deadly apartment building fire in Daxing, a southern suburb of the city, in 2017. In 2002, one more fire at a web bistro in Beijing killed 25 individuals.
On social media, some Chinese people questioned why they were only informed about the hospital fire hours after it was put out.
"Where is our entitlement to be aware?" After the initial media reports were published late on Monday night, one social media user posed the question.
"Do we actually have news sources in China? Do we actually have insightful columnists?" posed another question.
Ten people were killed in an apartment fire in Urumqi, the capital of China's western Xinjiang region, in November, which sparked rare nationwide protests. The tragedy was attributed by many protesters to the government's stringent COVID-19 controls.
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