A large fire broke out last night around 10.30pm at the San Giovanni Evangelista hospital in Tivoli, just outside Rome. Three people died, all patients of the facility. Initially it was thought there were four, but one man died shortly before the fire broke out.

The flames were put out late at night by firefighters and around 200 people were evacuated . The patients, depending on the critical issues and needs, were hospitalized in various hospitals in Rome.

According to what we understand, the fire broke out in the basement of the structure, starting from some rooms where some clinics are located. From there the flames reached the emergency room and the intensive care unit : some departments were not touched, but very thick smoke invaded the entire structure, making it necessary to evacuate the entire hospital .

The three victims are Pierina Di Giacomo and Romeo Sanna, both 86 years old, and Giuseppina Virginia Facca, 84 .

The Tivoli Prosecutor's Office has opened a case for murder and negligent burning , ordering an autopsy on the bodies of the four victims. An investigation is underway to ascertain the causes of the fire, which could also have started from a pile of rubbish according to initial rumours.

«I smelled the smell of burning plastic and went outside. I was in the emergency room on floor -1, there was only smoke and the power went out, so we escaped thanks to the emergency lights even though we couldn't see much. There were moments of panic. In addition to the stretchers, we rushed as much as we could and some sick people were even carried by arm. We went out through the morgue and the police broke the gate to let us out": this is the testimony of Paolo Gabrielli, 39 years old, one of the evacuated patients.

(Unioneonline/L)

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