Fire breaks out at Istanbul’s Balıklı Rum Hospital

Over 100 people have been evacuated from Istanbul’s Balıklı Rum Hospital as a fire broke out and spread rapidly.

According to local reports, a fire broke out on the roof of the building in the Zeytinburnu district at around noon on Aug. 4.

The authorities have dispatched firefighters, police and health care workers as part of the efforts to put out the fire and rescue the patients.

Some 102 patients were quickly evacuated and transferred to other hospitals.

“We have no casualties,” Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya said.

“The reason for the fire will be known after the Fire Department’s report,” said Ömer Arısoy, the mayor of Zeytinburnu.

The hospital is among three in Istanbul run by the city’s Orthodox community. Established as a plague hospital during Ottoman times, the clinic was reconstructed in 1793 after a fire three years earlier.

Patriarch Vartholomeos lamented the disaster.

“Our diaspora has suffered a serious blow,” he said.

In a tweet, the Greek Embassy in Ankara expressed its “grief and heartbreak” over the incident.