The death toll from a hospital fire in northeast China's Jilin
Province rose to 39 on Friday.
Twenty-four bodies were found at the scene, and 15 people died
after being transferred to other hospitals after the fire engulfed
Liaoyuan Central Hospital late on Thursday. Liaoyuan is 120
kilometers southwest of the provincial capital Changchun.
Many jumped from windows or climbed down using bed sheets tied
together to escape from the blaze, which could be viewed up to 10
kilometers away, witnesses said.
"We had a blackout soon after the fire broke out," said
42-year-old Dong Xiujuan, who jumped from the third floor and broke
both legs and her waist.
"I became so desperate in the darkness as the corridors and
rooms filled up with smoke," she sobbed, saying that her
73-year-old father, who was undergoing treatment at the hospital,
was still missing. Her mother and sisters searched all hospitals
that received transferred patients but to no avail.
"Two patients in the room, including my father, were too sick to
jump from the windows," she recalled.
Nurse Chen Yanni said she helped 10 people escape using
knowledge learnt from television. "I told the patients to cover
their mouths with a wet towel and to climb down the window using
bed sheets tied together," she said.
Xia Yong, a doctor with the hospital, told China Daily
that most of those who jumped from the third or fourth floor either
died or suffered bone fractures.
But a 15-day-old baby boy was safe after being thrown from the
window and caught by his father on the ground.
Local rescue headquarters confirmed on Friday evening that 182
people were receiving medical treatment at seven other hospitals in
the city, including 95 patients, 74 relatives, 11 hospital staff
and two firefighters. Twenty-eight were in critical condition.
The Jilin Provincial Department of Health sent 34 medical
workers on Thursday night to Liaoyuan to help with the rescue
operation.
As the biggest hospital in the city, the four-story Central
Hospital has 568 beds. There were 235 patients in the hospital when
the fire broke out.
Almost all of the hospital was destroyed by fire. The blaze was
put out at 9:30 PM by about 200 firefighters. Fire engines from
Changchun and nearby Yitong County also came to the rescue.
An initial investigation showed the fire started in a power
room, local officials said. No further details were available.
Jilin Governor Wang
Min and Party Secretary Wang
Yunkun rushed to the scene along with senior officials from the
Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Health. Liu Jinguo,
vice minister of public security, said DNA testing would be used to
identify the dead if necessary.
Meanwhile, more than 700 local residents offered to donate blood
for the wounded.
"When I heard that the hospital was running short of blood, my
husband immediately drove me to the city's blood center," said
laid-off worker Xu Dongping. "I would like to help."
An urgent notice issued yesterday by the Ministry of Public
Security urged a nationwide fire control overhaul at hospitals,
schools, theatres and shopping malls.
A number of accidents have occurred recently throughout the
country, including coal mine blasts that claimed hundreds of lives
and a major chemical spill that poisoned the Songhua River in
northeast China.
(China Daily December 17, 2005)