Patients evacuated as fire breaks out in Rio de Janeiro hospital
Patients are evacuated from a burning hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019. The fire forced staff to hastily evacuate patients and temporarily settle some on sheets and mattresses in the street while firefighters fought the blaze. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Patients are evacuated from a burning hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019. The fire forced staff to hastily evacuate patients and temporarily settle some on sheets and mattresses in the street while firefighters fought the blaze. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Patients are evacuated from a burning hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019. The fire forced staff to hastily evacuate patients and temporarily settle some on sheets and mattresses in the street while firefighters fought the blaze. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
RIO DE JANEIRO — A fire broke out at a Rio de Janeiro hospital Thursday night, forcing staff to hastily evacuate patients and temporarily settle some on sheets and mattresses in the street while firefighters battle the blaze.
Hospital staffers in surgical masks wheeled medical equipment in the road outside the Badim Hospital as smoke billowed from the building.
Television images showed medical workers tending to some patients sitting in wheelchairs with IV poles beside them in the street. Elderly and intensive care patients were among those rescued.
Many patients were transferred to other medical facilities, some accompanied by anxious family members.
Fire officials were not immediately available to say whether they had been any injuries.
