Smoke rises after a fire at a fertilizer warehouse in Sao Francisco do Sul, Santa Catarina state, Brazil, on Sept. 26, 2013. (Xinhua/Anderson Gores/AGP/AGENCIA ESTADO)
Medical personnel worked fast to evacuate patients, dozens of whom were relocated to makeshift beds along the street and to a neighboring daycare.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a fire at a private hospital in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro has risen to 11, local authorities announced on Friday.
All victims have been identified and were mostly elderly intensive care patients who died of smoke inhalation. The oldest victim was 93.
The number of people injured during the fire has yet to be disclosed, but there are reports of people suffering serious wounds. One woman is reported to have broken both ankles in her attempt to escape.
The fire broke out on Thursday around 6:30 p.m. local time (2130 GMT) at Badim Hospital and lasted several hours.
Medical personnel worked fast to evacuate patients, dozens of whom were relocated to makeshift beds along the street and to a neighboring daycare.
The patients were later transferred to nine different hospitals in the vicinity, most of them private institutions.
Despite evacuation efforts, several patients, their relatives, and hospital staff remained trapped in the building, which is located in a residential neighborhood.
According to the local news site G1, firefighters reported that the hospital's windows had been screwed shut, making their work more difficult.
An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway, with initial reports pointing to a short circuit in a generator.
According to authorities, there is no risk of contamination from radioactive hospital equipment.
There were 103 patients at Badim Hospital when the fire started. A total of 224 employees were also on site, all of whom survived, the hospital announced. ■
