At least 10 people have been killed in a fire at a hospital treating Covid-19 patients in North Macedonia, the BBC reports.
Footage shared on social media showed a building in flames and a thick cloud of black smoke billowing into the air near a main road in the city of Tetovo.
Firefighters reportedly extinguished the blaze less than an hour after it broke out at about 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT) on Wednesday.
Health Minister Venko Filipce warned the number of casualties could rise.
“This is a very sad day,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that several patients had been “urgently transported” to a hospital in the capital Skopje.
“Doctors are fighting for the lives of the injured,” Mr Filipce said. He described the fire as a “terrible accident”, but provided no further details.
