Beijing Hospital Fire Death Toll Rises to 29, Director Detained

The death toll in a fire that ripped through a hospital in China’s capital Beijing has risen to 29, a city official said Wednesday.

The fire at the Beijing Changfeng Hospital in the Fengtai District broke out at around 1 pm on Tuesday and was extinguished about half an hour later.

Li Zongrong, deputy mayor of the district, expressed his “deep condolences” as he announced the new toll at a press conference.

Twelve people, including the facility’s director, have been detained in connection with the fire, said Sun Haitao from Beijing’s public security bureau, adding that representatives from a company renovating the hospital were among those being held.

 State broadcaster CCTV reported that a preliminary probe revealed the blaze had been caused by “sparks generated during the internal renovation and construction of the inpatient department of the hospital.”

The sparks “ignited the volatiles of the flammable paint on the site,” CCTV said.