At least 18 killed in India COVID hospital fire

At least 18 coronavirus patients were killed as a fire broke out in a hospital in western India, police said early Saturday.

Hospital workers and firefighters rescued dozens of other patients at the hospital in Bharuch, a town in Gujarat state. The recovered patients were in stable condition.

The fire broke out at around 1:00 a.m. local time (0730 UTC) in a COVID-19 ward on the ground floor. Responders extinguished the fire within an hour, police said.

Patients were shifted to nearby hospitals, according to the Asia News International agency.