Fire sweeps through Saudi hospital wards, killing 25

A fire tore through the intensive care unit and the maternity ward of a Saudi hospital before dawn on Thursday, killing 25 people and injuring 123, the Saudi civil defence agency said.

The fire broke out at the general hospital in the southwestern port city of Jazan, the capital of the Jizan region.

Al Ekhbariya television interviewed a witness who said the cause of the fire seemed to be electrical, and that it took only three minutes to sweep through the hospital.

"We could hear the women screaming," said the man, who was not named.

Photographs published on Twitter by the civil defence agency showed heavy smoke and an intense blaze which appeared to have severely damaged the interior of the white-walled hospital. Some rescuers used a ladder to gain access through a window.

The 25 dead included one child, the television quoted the director of civil defence in Jizan, Major General Saad bin Al Ghamdi, as saying.

A correspondent for Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported that he had seen several emergency doors locked with chains when he visited the hospital after the disaster. He said the hospital had previously received official warnings over safety violations.

The region's Director of Health Affairs, Ahmed Al Sahli, denied any safety problems, telling Al Arabiya that many people had been able to escape easily from the blaze because the doors were open and safety equipment was in place.

But Eissa Amaish, whose sister was killed in the fire, blamed the hospital's management. "What happened in this hospital was a crime of murder," he told Al Arabiya. "This hospital was not equipped at all to deal with a fire."