Three elderly patients killed after horror blaze broke out at German hospital – as panicked people ‘cried for help from windows’

By PERKIN AMALARAJ

Published: 17:42 BST, 1 June 2025 | Updated: 17:49 BST, 1 June 2025

Three patients were killed and many people were injured, two of them critically, in a fire that broke out overnight at a hospital in the German city of Hamburg, authorities said on Sunday.

Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the hospital, the Marienkrankenhaus, shortly after midnight.

It broke out in a room in the geriatric ward, on the ground floor of the building, and spread to the facade of the floor above. Smoke spread across the building’s four floors.

Firefighters reportedly found several people crying for help from windows, and managed to rescue some using ladders.  

The fire department said three adult patients were killed and more than 50 people injured, the German news agency dpa reported.

Of those, two were in a life-threatening condition, 16 had serious injuries and 36 were slightly hurt.

A section of the hospital had to be evacuated. Injured patients were treated either at the hospital itself or in nearby clinics.

Firefighters with breathing apparatus and a ladder truck work at the Marienkrankenhaus hospital in Hamburg’s Hohenfelde district of Hamburg, Germany Sunday, June 1, 2025

Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the hospital, the Marienkrankenhaus, shortly after midnight

Firefighters reportedly found several people crying for help from windows

The fire was extinguished within about 20 minutes. It was not immediately clear what caused the fire.

It comes after a plane crashed into a house in western Germany, killing two people including the pilot, according to local police.

The tragedy happened after the aircraft struck the terrace of a residential building in the town of Korschenbroich on Saturday.

The plane crashed at around 12.30 pm (10.30 GMT) and caused the house to catch fire, police said. 

Dramatic images show firefighters hosing down the smoldering building after the flames were extinguished.

The mangled remains of the aircraft could be seen lying on the ground beside a huge hole in the wall.

Officers reportedly told German news agency dpa that one of the two people killed was the 71-year-old pilot.

The pilot was from Düsseldorf and appeared to have been sitting alone in the aircraft, they added.

The fire was extinguished within about 20 minutes. It was not immediately clear what caused the fire

The fire department said three adult patients were killed and more than 50 people injured

It is unknown whether the other person had been a passenger on the plane or had been on the ground. 

Firefighters responded in numbers with the local control center saying that around 50 personnel had been deployed.

They managed to put out the flames quickly. The cause of the crash has yet to be established.

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Three elderly patients killed after horror blaze broke out at German hospital – as panicked people ‘cried for help from windows’

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