Afire at a hospital in western Germany late on Thursday night had injured 28 people, five of them seriously, according to local police.
The fire broke out in a patient’s room in the hospital in Hemer, a town about 30 kilometres south-east of Dortmund.
Staff quickly began evacuating other patients from the hospital, according to a police spokeswoman.
The five people who were seriously injured suffered smoke inhalation, but no burns, according to initial findings.
Four seriously injured people were transferred to other hospitals for treatment while one injured person was treated in the intensive care unit of the hospital itself, according to a spokesman for the fire brigade.
Among the injured are patients as well as employees.
The portion of the building where the fire broke out is no longer useable, the police spokeswoman said.
Criminal investigators from the local police took over the investigation into the cause of the fire.