Covid: North Macedonia hospital fire kills at least 10

At least 10 people have been killed in a fire at a makeshift hospital treating Covid-19 patients in North Macedonia.

Footage shared on social media showed a building in flames and a thick cloud of black smoke billowing into the air near a main road in the city of Tetovo.

Firefighters put out the blaze in less than an hour. It had broken out at about 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT) on Wednesday.

Health Minister Venko Filipce warned the number of casualties could rise.

“This is a very sad day,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that several patients had been “urgently transported” to a hospital in the capital Skopje.

“Doctors are fighting for the lives of the injured,” Mr Filipce said. He described the fire as a “terrible accident”, but provided no further details.

Tetovo’s deputy fire chief Saso Trajcevski said the fire spread rapidly inside the building after oxygen cylinders exploded in rooms in the hospital. Footage showed flames bursting through the windows in the portable buildings that made up the modular hospital.

Although his team reached the building quickly, he said the large amount of plastic meant that the fire was intense and it was not immediately clear how many people were being treated there at the time.

“This is a truly tragic event,” said Prime Minister Zoran Zaev in a statement posted to Facebook, adding: “The cause of the fire will be determined.”

The temporary facility was reportedly constructed last year to care for people made seriously ill from the coronavirus.

North Macedonia has a population of about two million people and, with Covid vaccination rates below 30%, it has seen a recent surge in cases and deaths. Tetovo is one of the most affected areas.

Mayor Teuta Arifi spoke of her regret that the victims had been in the hospital for coronavirus treatment.

Agencies