At least 10 dead in Rio hospital blaze

RIO DE JANEIRO: At least 10 people have died in a fire in a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, the fire service in the Brazilian city said, with preliminary reports suggesting a short circuit in a generator could have sparked the blaze. The fire broke out at dusk Thursday at the Badim hospital in the north of Rio, sending medical staff and relatives into a desperate flurry to try to evacuate scores of patients. “At least 10 people died,” the Rio de Janeiro fire department said in a statement, without specifying whether the victims were patients or workers. “About 90 patients had to be transferred to other medical units. The blaze was brought under control by 8:00 pm (2300 GMT), and firefighters searched until the early hours of Friday to recover bodies from the scene. During the evacuation effort, dozens of gurneys and stretchers were taken into surrounding streets as ambulances struggled to get through crowds of curious onlookers to rush the most vulnerable patients to other hospitals.