At least 25 people died and 107 were injured in a fire that broke out at a hospital in the city of Jazan, southern Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Civil Defense Authority has not yet revealed the cause of the fire.
According to a statement by the authority, the fire broke out in the intensive care unit, the women’s and maternity ward, and the neonatal unit of Jazan General Hospital.
Twenty-one firefighting, rescue, and ambulance teams from the Civil Defense, supported by security, ambulance, and service teams, began extinguishing the fire that broke out at Jazan General Hospital in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The official spokesman for the Civil Defense Directorate in the Jazan region, Major Yahya Al-Qahtani, stated that the command and control room received a report at exactly 2:10 AM about a fire incident at Jazan General Hospital on the first floor in the intensive care, women’s, maternity, and neonatal ward. Four teams were dispatched from the city of Jazan, and they were supported by 17 firefighting, rescue, and ambulance teams and ladders from all departments and centers in the region, in addition to all ambulance, security, and service agencies that participated in the incident. The teams carried out an evacuation of the site and controlled the incident.
Major General Saad Al-Ghamdi, Director of Civil Defense in the Jazan region, said that investigations are underway to determine the cause of the fire, stressing that most injured patients are in stable condition.
Major General Al-Ghamdi added that the fire broke out at approximately 2:11 AM on Thursday morning, starting on the first floor and confined to the intensive care and maternity and neonatal ward. However, smoke rose to the upper floors, causing deaths and injuries.
He indicated that the hospital was completely evacuated, and the injured were transferred to other hospitals for treatment.
Photos published by the Saudi newspaper Okaz showed some of the hospital rooms with black, charred walls and debris falling from the ceilings due to the fire.
Last August, 10 people were killed and 259 injured in a fire at a residential complex leased by the Saudi Aramco oil giant in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom.
At the time, the Civil Defense Authority said that the cause of the fire was an electrical short circuit in a parking garage under the complex, which contained 130 cars.