Hospital fire in Tainan kills 12

A fire at which swept through a hospital in southern Taiwan during the early hours of Tuesday morning has killed 12 patients and injured at least 60 more.

The fire swept through a nursing home housing elderly and mostly bed-ridden patients in Tainan City.

According to hospital officials, the victims died of smoke inhalation.

Injured residents received treatment at nearby hospitals for burns and smoke inhalation.

The cause of the fire - which broke out on the second floor - is not yet known.

A fire official said the blaze may have started in a storage room.

The nursing home housed more than 100 patients, many of whom were on respirators and unable to move on their own.

Firefighters quickly arrived at the scene, but because of the large number of patients nearby residents pitched in to help transport some of them to other hospitals, the BBC reports.