ATHENS — A fire broke out on Wednesday in a Covid ward at a hospital in Thessaloniki, a city in northern Greece, killing one person and seriously injuring at least two others, said Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis, a spokesman for Greece’s fire service.
It is the latest of several deadly fires at hospitals treating coronavirus patients in different parts of the world since the pandemic began.
The fire, which occurred at Papanikolaou hospital, broke out at about 9 a.m. local time and was contained by firefighters sent to the scene within five minutes, but thick smoke engulfed several wards and slowed the search for survivors, Mr. Vathrakoyiannis said.
“During an inspection of the ward, firefighters found a burned man and two burn victims,” Mr. Vathrakoyiannis said, adding that more than 30patients were moved outside the hospital.
It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, but initial testimony by other patients in the ward suggested that a man had “set fire to his clothes,” though it was unclear whether this had been accidental, Mr. Vathrakoyiannis said.
The head of the ward, Diamantis Chloros, said he was in his office when the on-duty doctor alerted him. “I heard her shouting, ‘Fire! Quick!’ and then saw smoke billowing out of the ward like there had been an explosion,” he said. “I tried to go out into the corridor. There was thick smoke coming into my office.”
There was no fire detection system at the clinic, which is typical of old hospitals, he said.
“There are oxygen tanks in the clinic and a lot of flammable material, sheets, blankets, plastic, so this would have really fueled the fire,” he said and added that some patients were given oxygen in the hospital yard after they were evacuated.
In what appears to have been the most serious fire at a ward treating coronavirus patients, at least 92 people died in July at a hospital in the city of Nasiriya in southern Iraq. There were also deadly fires last year at hospitals in Romania, India and North Macedonia.
