At least two people have died and more than 30 have been injured in a fire at a hospital in northern Germany, local authorities have said.
The blaze broke out in the early hours of July 2 at the Helene-von-Bülow-Klinikum in Ludwigslust, a town in the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, south of the regional capital Schwerin.
Both of those killed were patients, a spokeswoman for the Ludwigslust-Parchim district told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).
She said none of the more than 30 people injured had been seriously hurt. It was not immediately clear whether the two victims had been in the same room.
The authorities did not release the ages of those who died or give any further details about them. Both were being treated at the clinic when the fire took hold.
Emergency services were alerted shortly after 4am, and the roof structure of the building caught fire at around 4.30am.
According to first findings, the fire had started in a patient room before reaching the roof above the radiology department, regional broadcaster NDR reported.
The hospital was fully evacuated, with neighbouring buildings on the site also affected. Patients and staff were then treated at a secure location on the hospital grounds.
The fire was described as locally contained, and work carried on in the parts of the clinic that were not touched by the flames.
The accident and emergency unit was closed for a time before being reopened, according to NDR.
Police in Rostock said fire crews, paramedics and officers had been sent to the scene in large numbers, in what they described as a major operation.
The deployment caused significant traffic disruption around the hospital, they added.
Officers had earlier put the number of injured at up to 34, though they were unable to confirm how serious the injuries were.
The cause of the fire had not been established, and the rescue operation was still under way.
Authorities said the situation remained fluid and that the total number of people evacuated was not yet known.
