AlHijjah 7, 1433, Oct 23, 2012, SPA -- Twelve elderly patients died in a fire that broke out early Tuesday at a public hospital in Tainan in southern Taiwan, the Department of Health said. The blaze in the nursing home unit at Tainan's Hsinying Hospital injured 60 people, dpa quoted the department as saying. Smoke inhalation was identified as the cause of the 12 deaths. Many of the patients in the unit were immobile and under intensive care, media reports said. Firefighters evacuated elderly patients using blankets and rescue cranes while nurses tried to resuscitate some patients on a grassy field outside the hospital. The nursing home unit had five nurses on duty, making evacuations difficult, television station CTS reported. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. The Health Department, which manages the hospital, said it was investigating. The Tainan Fire Department said the blaze started in a storage room on the second floor.
