Hospital fire leaves four dead

A hospital in Central China's Hubei province caught on fire on early Sunday morning, killing three patients and one medical staffer. A police investigation showed that the fire was a case of arson and a suspect has been detained.

The suspect surnamed Li, 27, from Ezhou, 27 kilometers from Huangshi, where the fire occurred, was detained by local police on Sunday. The case is still under investigation, Zhang Zhichao, an official from the publicity department of Huangshi Party committee, told the Global Times.

Li admitted he set the fire at around 4:10 am on Sunday in Huangshi No.2 People's Hospital. About 10 minutes later, Huangshi Public Security Bureau received the report from the hospital and the fire was extinguished at 4:50 am, Huangshi-based news portal hsdcw.com reported on Sunday.

Li, who is mentally ill, is alleged to have set the fire out of revenge. Last year, Li entered the hospital's inpatient department building to steal a motorcycle but was caught by the hospital's guards at the scene. The guards handcuffed him, which caused Li to resent the hospital, local police told the Wuhan Morning Post on Monday.

The fire took place on the first floor of the inpatient department building and spread about 200 square meters.

One person was found dead at the scene, one patient died as he tried to flee and two other patients later died from their injuries. The medical staffer's identity still needs to be confirmed by a DNA test, hsdcw.com reported.

About 200 patients were transferred to other hospitals in Huangshi, China National Radio reported Monday.

"The disaster relief work is still underway," Wang Jing, secretary of the hospital's Party committee, told the Global Times on Monday.

The main paths of the hospital were blockaded by police, and other cars apart from ambulances were forbidden from entering on Sunday.

The entire inpatient department building had turned black from the fire and its windows from the second to fourth floors were destroyed, Wuhan Morning Post reported on Monday.

The wards of the neurosurgery department located on the second floor of the building were very near to the fire, but Zhang Chuan, a neurosurgeon, and nurse Zhu Lingling successfully moved their 30 or so patients to a safe location in about 10 minutes.

"I was relieved when I knew my patients were alright," Zhang was quoted by the Wuhan newspaper as saying.

But not everyone was as lucky as Zhang's patients. Liu Qun, 76, died in the fire one day after he was hospitalized.

After hearing the building was on fire, Liu's son attempted to bring his father to safety, but heavy smoke and darkness made the task impossible, Wuhan Morning Post reported.