Director of Changfeng hospital among those detained after deadliest fire in China’s capital since 2002. Deadly fires are common in China due to weak safety standards and lax enforcement.
Tuesday’s tragedy was the deadliest in the Chinese capital since a fire at an internet cafe in June 2002 killed 25 students. Ten people died in an apartment block fire in north-western Xinjiang in November, prompting protests against Covid-19 lockdowns blamed for hindering rescue efforts.
And 38 people were killed in a fire at a factory in central China, also in November, with authorities blaming workers for illegal welding.
The deadly blaze erupted at the hospital’s inpatient department Tuesday afternoon at the Changfeng Hospital in the heart of Beijing, less than seven miles away from Tiananmen Square.
Initial media reports about the fire were scant. The official Xinhua News Agency and the Beijing Daily didn’t publish articles until late Tuesday evening, several hours after the blaze had been extinguished. Footage of the fire was also censored on social media at first.
The death toll was confirmed Wednesday afternoon at a press briefing held by Beijing local government officials. Initial investigations suggested the incident was caused by construction work, as police detained a dozen people — including the head of the hospital.
Police officers stand near a barricaded building following a fire breaking out at a hospital in Beijing on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. More than a dozen people have died in a fire at a Beijing hospital that forced the evacuation of dozens of patients, Chinese state media reported.
Chinese authorities are censoring online posts about a fire that killed 29 people at a hospital in the heart of Beijing, as public anger mounts over the death toll and initial attempts to clamp down on information about the incident.
The deadly blaze erupted at the Beijing Changfeng Hospital’s inpatient department Tuesday, according to a late evening report published by state media outlet Xinhua News Agency. Firefighters were notified of the fire at 12:57 p.m. local time and put it out by 1:33 p.m., Xinhua said. Another 71 patients were evacuated and transferred to other facilities, the report said, citing the local fire department.
