DUBAI: A fire tore through the intensive care unit and maternity ward of a Saudi hospital before dawn on Thursday, killing 25 people and injuring 123.

The fire broke out at the general hospital in the port city of Jazan.

Government-controlled al Ekhbariya television interviewed a witness who said the cause of the fire appeared to be electrical, and it took only three minutes to sweep through the hospital.

“We could hear the women screaming.”

Photographs published on Twitter by the country’s civil defence agency showed heavy smoke and an intense blaze which appeared to have severely damaged the interior of the white-walled hospital. Some rescuers used a ladder to gain access through a window.

The 25 dead included one child, the television quoted the director of civil defence in Jizan, Maj Gen Saad bin Al Ghamdi, as saying.

A correspondent for Saudi-owned al Arabiya television reported that he had seen several emergency doors locked with chains when he visited the hospital after the disaster. He said the hospital had previously received official warnings over safety violations.

The region’s Director of Health Affairs, Ahmed al Sahli, denied any safety problems, telling al Arabiya that many people had been able to escape easily from the blaze because the doors were open and safety equipment was in place.

But Eissa Amaish, whose sister was killed in the fire, blamed the hospital’s management. “What happened in this hospital was a crime of murder,” he told al Arabiya. “This hospital was not equipped at all to deal with a fire.”

Some people on Twitter suggested the fire had been the result of official negligence and that the health minister should resign.

The comments online pointed to a series of infrastructure accidents in the country over the past year.

A deadly crush during Haj in September killed 769 people, according to Saudi officials. Two weeks earlier, 110 people died in the Grand Mosque when a crane working on an expansion project collapsed during a storm, crushing pilgrims below.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2015