Saudi Arabia hospital fire: Massive blaze tears through maternity ward leaving 25 dead and 100 injured

The fire broke out shortly before dawn at Jazan General Hospital and required 21 civil defence fire teams to extinguish

The blaze broke out in the intensive care and maternity wards at Jazan General Hospital in the south-west port city of Jazan shortly before dawn (Reuters)

A massive fire tore through a hospital in Saudi Arabia overnight, killing at least 25 people and leaving 100 others injured.

The blaze broke out in the intensive care and maternity wards at Jazan General Hospital in the south-west port city of Jazan shortly before dawn, the Saudi civil defence agency said.

Hundreds of patients had to be transferred as a result of the fire, which required 21 civil defence teams to extinguish. An investigation into the cause of the blaze is now underway.

Images published by Saudi newspaper Okaz showed extensive damage to the hospital, where equipment appeared melted and charred and wheelchairs were left abandoned amid the rubble.

Rescue workers used cranes to evacuate patients and injured people from the upper floors of the hospital (Reuters)

Load-bearing walls inside the building looked like they were on the brink of collapse, with the blaze appearing to have spread into operating theatres and waiting rooms.

Crowds were seen gathered outside the four-storey whitewashed building as fire crews and rescue workers used cranes to evacuate patients and injured people from the upper floors.

Jozan is located close to the border with Yemen, where Saudi-backed forces have been fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels for several months.

Last week a rocket fired from within Yemen was intercepted by the Saudi military in the air over Jozan. Officials say nothing yet indicates that the overnight blaze was caused by a rocket, however.