WATCH: Beijing Hospital Fire Engulfs Facility, Kills At Least 21

Beijing Changfeng Hospital fire killed 21 persons
Following the incident, an investigation commenced
In November 2022, a similar incident prompted protests throughout China

At least 21 people were killed after a fire broke out in a Beijing hospital on Tuesday, causing patients trapped inside to jam up against windows, awaiting rescue, while at least one leaped to a roof below to escape the flames and smoke.

The fire was the worst in Beijing in the previous two decades. It started just before 1 p.m. at an inpatient building of the Changfeng Hospital in the city's south. Firefighters had mainly extinguished the flames in less than 40 minutes, according to a brief official report from the Beijing Daily Daily.

Beijing Hospital Fire

Despite the evacuation of dozens of patients, 21 died by early evening, reportedly due to the fires and intense smoke. The death toll might grow further since the official report did not specify if any remains were found within the structure.

The death toll has now eclipsed a 2017 fire in Beijing's Daxing District, killing 19 people in a close apartment complex housing migrant workers. A fire at a city internet café killed 25 people in 2002. The new accident is a setback for the Chinese capital, which has been returning to normalcy after almost three years of strict pandemic controls were loosened, allowing for a potentially lethal wave of COVID-19 infections last year.

Official Chinese media reported on the incident late at night, several hours after it had been doused, indicating the authorities' sensitivity to widespread outrage at the bad news. Yin Li, the Communist Party secretary for Beijing, visited the fire scene and stated that the authorities would prosecute anyone proven to be responsible, NY Times reported.

Those stuck in the multi-story building allegedly strung bedsheets into homemade ropes and fled by climbing out of windows as clouds of black smoke billowed into the sky late Tuesday, according to videos circulating on social media.

Others sought safety by perching on air conditioning equipment outside the building. Emergency services extinguished the fire in the east wing of Beijing Changfeng Hospital's inpatient department, and at least 71 patients were saved.

The majority of the facility looked to be without electricity late Tuesday. The building's façade seemed scorched and burnt in spots, as per The Guardian.

By early Wednesday, there had been no official indication of how many deaths were patients or the number of others who may have been hurt. A call to the hospital for comment on Tuesday went unanswered.

Previous Fire in China Left 10 People Dead

In November, a fire in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region in western China, resulted in the deaths of ten people and sparked protests across China, with many blaming the deaths on pandemic restrictions that hindered residents and firefighters.

On Chinese social media platforms such as Weibo, locals shared images and video clips depicting how the fire in Beijing covered a large portion of the building, leaving many inside with no time or escape routes.

People inside cried for assistance while smoke billowed from the windows, and some of them leaned out of the windows. Other footage depicted a man scaling out of a window, descending a stack of blankets, and landing on an adjacent roof. A photograph showed the hospital's white-tiled exterior severely scorched by fire and smoke.

Messages that shared the footage on social media frequently vanished shortly after being sent. To quell public outrage and inquiries about disasters, the Chinese government has become adept at promptly censoring the news. Some on social media questioned why the Beijing government took so long to report the fire.