LIBERTY TIMES, UNITED DAILY NEWS (Taiwan)
Arson is suspected in an overnight hospital fire in Taiwan that has killed 12 people, the Liberty Times reports. Police say a suspect has been arrested.
The fire at North Gate Hospital in Tainan, one of Taiwan’s largest cities, began around 3:30 a.m.. Two other patients are still unaccounted for beyond the confirmed victims, who all died of smoke inhalation.
More than 150 firefighters battled the blaze, and were able to rescue 115 patients, though 72 of whom suffered from smoke inhalation and have been sent to 13 other hospitals. Many of the patients were acutely ill and unable to move by themselves, while several dozen were psychiatric patients.
The relatives of those who died said no one from the hospital had contacted them, and that they’d found out about the fire from television reports.
The hospital was facing an inspection today, the United Daily News reported. The fire broke out in a privately rented outsourced clinic on the second floor, the United Daily News added. There were 69 patients, and 6 staff on overnight duty. The provincial health department immediately ordered more than 500 hospitals to report within three days on their fire readiness.
