Damascus, Feb 22 (AP) An electrical short circuit caused a fire in a hospital in northern Syria early Tuesday that killed three patients, state media reported.

The fire department chief in the city of Aleppo was quoted by the SANA news agency as saying the blaze started in a room at the private Andalus Surgical Hospital.

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It killed two elderly women and a man, who died of smoke inhalation.

SANA said other patients were transferred to different hospitals in Aleppo, Syria's largest city and a former commercial centre.

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Syria's medical sector was hard-hit by the country's conflict that began in March 2011 and has killed about half a million people and left large parts of the country destroyed. (AP) VM

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)