According to state media, a fire raced through a hospital in China's capital of Beijing on Wednesday, killing 29 people.
According to the Communist Party-run Beijing Daily, a fire erupted shortly before 1 p.m. local time on Tuesday at the Beijing Changfeng Hospital in the capital city's Fengtai District.
The fire was extinguished about a half-hour later, and rescue efforts lasted for two hours, during which seventy-one patients were evacuated.
On Tuesday, social media users shared videos of people sitting on outside air conditioning units while others hanging to ropes plunged from the building.
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Although the films could not be independently authenticated, AFP identified the facility in the footage as the hospital.
According to the newspaper, the death toll stood at 29 as of Wednesday morning.
There were no more details on the number of injuries sustained in the incident or the status of the victims.
According to the Beijing Daily, soon after the tragedy, Beijing Party Secretary Yin Li promised to determine the disaster's cause rapidly and hold those involved accountable.
On Wednesday, AFP photographers witnessed scores of observers outside the hospital's entrance, where many police officers were stationed prohibiting people from snapping photos.
Some of the hospital's windows seemed to be blackened, and at least one was damaged, with soot stains evident on the front.
It was unclear whether all of the hospital's inmates had been found and evacuated from the fire in the east building of the private hospital's inpatient section.
According to the Beijing Daily, the deaths were confirmed after the victims were transferred to an undisclosed hospital for emergency treatment.
Many relatives have lost contact with patients, with the majority of those missing being elderly persons with mobility issues, according to a separate study published on Wednesday by the China Youth Daily.
A police official on the scene told AFP on Wednesday that the city will most likely take the necessary measures to care for the victims' families.
Beijing Changfeng Hospital is located in Beijing's western metropolitan area, approximately 25 minutes by vehicle from Tiananmen Square.
Because of inadequate safety regulations and enforcement, deadly fires are widespread in China.
Ten people were killed in an apartment building fire in northeastern Xinjiang in November, prompting protests against Covid-19 lockdowns that were blamed for impeding rescue attempts.
In November, 38 people were murdered in a fire at a plant in central China, with officials blaming workers for unlawful welding.
