Fire at hospice in Poland kills 4 patients; others hurt

WARSAW, Poland – A fire broke out at a hospice in Poland on Monday, killing four people and hospitalizing 21 others, Polish media reported.

The four dead were all patients at the hospice in Chojnice, a town in northern Poland, said Marian Hinca, a spokesman for firefighters. One of the four was found dead when firefighters arrived and the other three died on the way to the hospital, Hinca told the news portal Wiadomosci.

Michal Sienkiewicz, a police official, told the television broadcaster TVN24 that the fire was probably caused by a hospice worker’s cigarette.

One of those hospitalized was a police officer who suffered smoke inhalation.