Fire at Vienna hospital kills three
The blaze in the four-person room is believed to have been caused by a smoking patient
A fire broke out at the Landesklinikum Mödling, a hospital near Vienna, Austria, has claimed the lives of three patients. It broke out in a four-patient room on the fourth floor at around 1:00am on Tuesday 30 May.
Authorities were alerted following its detection, and approximately 90 patients were evacuated – with some being moved to other parts of the hospital, and others to a nearby clinic in the town of Baden. Smoke reportedly filled the internal medicine ward.
The fire was eventually extinguished at around 3:00am, but claimed the lives of the three patients occupying the room at the time. A woman was also reportedly injured during the blaze, while a fourth patient registered to the room was outside of it at the time of the fire.
Police Spokesperson Stefan Loidl told press agency Austria Presse Agentur (APA) that they suspect the fire was caused by a cigarette. One of the patients, a 75-year-old man, was a heavy smoker, and one of the room’s windows had reportedly been opened for ventilation. The man believed to have caused the blaze was also one of its victims.
A separate fire at a hospital in Beijing in April killed at least 29 people.