Probe under way after Beijing hospital fire kills 29

BEIJING - An investigation was underway after a fire ripped through a hospital in China's capital Beijing, killing 29 people, state media reported.

Emergency response teams first received word on Tuesday that a fire had broken out at the Beijing Changfeng Hospital in the capital city's Fengtai District, the Communist Party-run Beijing Daily said.

The fire was extinguished about half an hour later and rescue efforts continued for another two hours, by which time 71 patients had been evacuated to another location.

Social media users posted videos on Tuesday of people sitting on external air conditioning units, while others clinging to ropes jumped from the building.

The death toll stood at 29 as of Wednesday morning, a city official said.

No further details were available on the number of injuries suffered in the fire or the condition of the victims.

Twelve people, including the facility's director, have been detained in connection to the fire, said Sun Haitao from Beijing's public security bureau, adding that representatives from a company renovating the hospital were also being held.

Top city officials visited the hospital shortly after the fire, with Beijing party secretary Yin Li vowing to "quickly identify the cause of the accident and hold the relevant responsible persons accountable", according to the Beijing Daily.

AFP journalists on Wednesday saw dozens of onlookers outside the entrance to the hospital, where a large number of police officers were stationed, discouraging people from taking photos.

No visible damage to the hospital's buildings was visible from the entrance to the compound.

It was not immediately clear if all the occupants of the hospital had been found and evacuated from the fire, which was in the east building of the private hospital's inpatient department.

The deaths were confirmed after the victims were taken to another unidentified hospital for emergency treatment, the Beijing Daily report said.

Many family members have lost contact with patients, with the missing mostly older people with mobility problems, the China Youth Daily said in a separate report on Wednesday.