Twenty-nine people were killed after Beijing’s deadliest fire in two decades broke out at a hospital earlier this week, with a prolonged silence in state media about the incident fueling public outrage.
The majority of those killed were inpatients at Changfeng Hospital in the southwest part of Beijing, where the fire broke out at around 1 p.m. Tuesday, officials said at a news briefing the following day.
Twenty-six inpatients died in the fire with an average age of 71. It also claimed the lives of a nurse, a health care worker and a patient's family member. As of Wednesday, 39 people who had been injured in the blaze were hospitalized, with 18 in serious condition and three in critical condition, officials said.