Fire at Chinese Hospital Kills at Least 39

Fire swept through a hospital in China’s northeastern Jilin province, killing at least 39 people, including patients, official media said.

Witnesses said some people jumped from buildings during the fire Thursday, the New China News Agency reported. It was not immediately clear whether they were among the dead.

At least some of the victims were patients who died as they were being transferred to other hospitals, the news agency reported.

Witnesses said the fire broke out about 5 p.m. at City Central Hospital, the largest in Liaoyuan, about 100 miles southwest of Changchun, the capital of Jilin province.

Earlier Thursday, the Ministry of Public Security reported that from January to November there had been 222,000 accidental fires in China, resulting in more than 2,000 deaths, the news agency said.

In recent weeks, China has experienced a number of major accidents, including a series of coal mining disasters that claimed several hundred lives and a major chemical spill on a river that forced the water supply to the northern city of Harbin to be temporarily cut off.