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By John Feng
China Editor
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Social media users in China expressed a mixture of anger and dismay late on Tuesday after a deadly hospital fire went unreported by state news outlets for nearly eight hours amid heavy online censorship.
On Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblogging website, some users said they learned of the tragedy from the Western press. Unverified pictures and videos of the incident were often deleted.
The death toll from the previous day's fire at the privately run Changfeng Hospital in Beijing's Fengtai district rose to 29 on Wednesday, an official told a media briefing. It was the Chinese capital's worst fire in at least two decades—a blaze at an internet cafe in 2002 killed 25 young customers.
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All but three of the 29 victims were elderly patients in their 60s and 70s. The others were a carer, a nurse and a visitor, according to the official, who said the fire in the building's inpatient department was caused by combustable paint ignited by sparks from construction work at just before 1 p.m. local time.
Authorities said the fire was brought under control in roughly 30 minutes, but the Chinese public didn't learn about the incident until nearly 9 p.m. the same day. When news eventually emerged, it came in the form of standardized releases in the state-owned press, according to the complaints online.
Social media clips of the incident, which were swiftly censored unless carried by state media, showed dark smoke billowing from the hospital as victims escaped from high windows using air-conditioning units and makeshift ropes. A number of people jumped to safety to a roof below.
Family members of some of the deceased told local news outlets that they weren't notified of the fire and only learned of the incident later in the evening. Weibo users blamed the hourslong information blackout, and also disputed the death toll.
"First, they block information. Second, they delete all traces. Third, they extinguish the fire and carry out a rescue. Fourth, they remove trending topics," wrote a Weibo user, who believed Chinese censors were throttling discussions online.
Another wrote: "It's ridiculous. I had to learn about the incident from CNN."
Some users on Wednesday said posts under trending hashtags were being filtered for content, while others said Chinese state media devoted more resources to covering February's train derailment in Ohio.
Authorities in Beijing said dozens were evacuated from the hospital during the blaze. At least 39 people remained hospitalized with injuries, including three who were critical and 18 in a serious condition, officials said.
Twelve people, including the hospital director, were detained over the incident as part of an ongoing investigation, China's official Xinhua News Agency said.
In a now-deleted social media post, Changfeng Hospital said in February that it had made "solid arrangements" for fire prevention and control.
China's leaders have for years called for an end to lax building standards that lead to often deadly fire hazards.
Beijing Daily, the capital's official newspaper, said the city's Communist Party chief, Yin Li, visited the site of the hospital fire and demanded legal accountability for those responsible. "Release relevant information in a timely manner and respond to social concerns," said Yin, who outranks the city's mayor.
"The fire is heartbreaking, and its lessons are extremely profound," he said. "It sounded alarm bells for us, reminding us that work safety and the elimination of fire hazards cannot stop even for a moment."
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