A FIRE at one of Hungary’s largest hospitals in Budapest killed one person and injured two today, police said.

The blaze began in a ground floor detoxification unit at the Szent Imre hospital around 7.30am, police spokesman Angelika Molnar told the Hungarian news agency MTI.

The cause of the fire, which spread to an adjacent room, covering the surroundings with soot, is under investigation, she said.

Staff moved 56 patients in nearby wards out of danger, but firefighters who put out the blaze later found the victim, a young female, an emergency services spokesman Mate Kisdi told MTI.

Three people are also being treated at another hospital for suspected smoke inhalation, Pal Gyorfi, a spokesman for the national ambulance service, told MTI.

A smaller fire last November at the same facility, one of the main hospitals in the Hungarian capital, was extinguished without fatalities or injuries. – AFP, January 23, 2022.