Fire at Iranian Hospital Kills 9, Injures 120

A fire ripped through a private hospital in the northern Iranian city of Rasht on Tuesday, killing at least nine people and injuring over 120 others, officials said.

The blaze broke out early Tuesday morning at Ghaem 250 Hospital in Rasht, the capital of Gilan Province. 

Sadegh Niaraki, Gilan's chief prosecutor, told state TV that eight of the deceased were patients in the hospital's intensive care unit.

A ninth person succumbed to injuries later.

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Mohammad Taghi Ashoubi, head of Gilan University of Medical Sciences, said around 140 patients were inside the hospital at the time the fire began. 

The cause of the fire, which started in the basement, remains under investigation, according to the head of Rasht's fire department. 

It took emergency crews approximately three hours to extinguish the flames completely.

Deadly fires have broken out at medical facilities under renovation or construction in Iran in past years due to negligence and lack of basic fire safety measures.