Saudi Hospital Fire Kills 25

Local Editor

Saudi authorities reported that a fire ripped through a hospital on Thursday, killing at least 25 people and injuring 107.

In parallel, the civil defense agency further explained that the blaze broke out in the intensive care unit and the maternity department of the Jizan General Hospital, South of the kingdom.

Later updates added that the fire was extinguished and an investigation was under way into the cause.

Relatively, putting out the blaze required the assistance of twenty-one civil defense teams.

For its part, al-Riyadh daily quoted a civil defense spokesman as saying that the agency was alerted of the fire at 2:00 am.

Thursday's fire sparked a wave of criticism among social media users who complained that Jizan province, especially its hospitals, suffers from inadequate infrastructure.

In a similar incident in the kingdom, 10 people died and 259 sustained injuries in a fire at a residential complex rented by oil giant Saudi Aramco in the kingdom's Eastern Province.

That fire was reportedly caused by an electrical short circuit in the underground parking lot, where 130 cars had been parked.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team