At least three people were killed, and a few others were injured after a fire broke out in a hospital on the outskirts of Rome, Italy. Following the fire, the San Giovanni Evangelista hospital in Tivoli, which had nearly 200 patients, was evacuated overnight, officials said on Saturday (local time).
The fire began in the emergency room on the ground floor at around 11 pm on Friday (local time) and immediately spread to other areas; subsequently, the entire building was covered in thick smoke, chief prosecutor Francesco Menditto told news agency Associated Press.
Those who died were aged between 76 and 86.
A fourth body was also recovered from the hospital mortuary. However, it is believed that this person might have died before the blaze occurred.
Among the evacuated, 193 were patients, including a pregnant woman and a number of children. Some of them were in intensive care units and they were transferred immediately to other hospitals in ambulances, officials said.
The cause of the fire and the extent of the damage are yet to be ascertained. Italian officials have launched a probe into the incident.
Chief prosecutor Menditto said though the prosecutors do not believe the fire was set intentionally, he said the working hypothesis guiding the investigation was related to manslaughter charges, without any suspects being identified.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni offered condolences to the families of the victims.
“I express my deepest condolences to the families of the victims of the fire that broke out in the San Giovanni Evangelista hospital in Tivoli and my closeness to all those affected,” Meloni wrote on X (formerly Twitter).