The fire broke out at the private Changfeng Hospital on
Tuesday afternoon and forced dozens of people to evacuate. Some who were
trapped had to escape from windows using bedsheets tied together.
A nurse, a medical assistant and a family member also died
in the incident, said Li Zongrong, deputy head of Fengtai district.
The cause of the fire is under investigation but officials
say they believe it originated from welding sparks from work being done in the
hospital’s inpatient wing. Among the 12 people who were detained was the head
of the construction crew.
A total of 39 people are being treated for injuries, three
of them in critical condition, officials said. Rescue crews and medical staff
from around the city were mobilized, with squads plucking some of the 142
people who were evacuated from air conditioning units on the building’s
exterior.
Safety rules are frequently ignored in China, but accidents
on the level of the Changfeng fire are treated with a much higher level of
scrutiny. Construction accidents sometimes result from corners being cut on
work hours and safety conditions, while local officials are bribed to ignore
violations.
The central government has pledged stronger safety measures
since an explosion in 2015 at a chemical warehouse in the northern port city of
Tianjin killed 173 people, most of them firefighters and police officers. -AP