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Costa Rica clinic fire toll rises, safety slammed

Posted on: Wednesday, 13 July 2005, 17:56 CDT

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - Costa Rican emergency workers on Wednesday criticized inadequate safety measures at a hospital gutted by fire earlier this week, as the death toll from the deadly blaze rose to 19.

The fire broke out on Tuesday at the Rafael Angel Calderon Guardia Hospital in San Jose, trapping critically ill patients and nurses in the neurosurgery and intensive care wards on the clinic's upper floors.

Emergency workers found the body of a patient in the charred ruins of the hospital on Wednesday, taking the death toll to 16 patients and three nurses.

Investigators have yet to determine the cause of the deadly blaze. But firemen criticized "shortcomings" in emergency plans at the out-of-date hospital, which had no fire escapes, emergency lighting or smoke alarms.

The fire shocked residents of San Jose, who watched as elderly and critically ill patients called for help from windows and balconies as fire raged through the hospital.

Some were rescued by volunteers with ladders. Others shinned down knotted sheets to escape the flames, which swept through the top two floors of the five-story clinic.

The Red Cross said 116 patients were evacuated to other hospitals, while the government declared three days of mourning and a state of emergency throughout the Central American nation's hospital network.

Costa Rica is the richest nation in Central America with an economy based on tourism and coffee exports.

Source: REUTERS

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