Hospital staff members helped some patients escape, while others climbed up stairs to the top floor and were rescued by firefighters using cranes.

Some 208 firefighters were dispatched to the blaze, which was extinguished by 5:30 am.

The outside of the ward was blackened by the thick smoke.

New Taipei fire department official Hung Liang-chien told reporters that an initial probe showed that the fire was likely caused by a short circuit in an electrical device.

"We are clarifying whether it was the power cable of a patient's electric bed or a device brought in by relatives," he said.

Local Fire Chief Huang Te-ching earlier denied reports that the hospital's sprinkler system had malfunctioned.

"The sprinkler device was on, but there's some distance between it and the fire, so the fire couldn't be immediately extinguished," he told reporters.

He added that authorities were also examining why there was a nine-minute delay by the hospital in reporting the fire.

CHINA DAILY—AGENCIES