SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) -- At least 15 people were killed Tuesday in a fire that consumed several floors of a busy, Costa Rican hospital before dawn, Costa Rican officials said. Nurses broke out windows trying to escape, and many patients fled the hospital on their own.
The fire started on the fifth floor of the Calderon Guardia Hospital in the Costa Rican capital of San Jose at 2:23 a.m. EDT (0623 GMT,) Fire Chief Hector Chavez told Channel 7 Television News. It was brought under control three hours later.
The hospital lacked proper fire exits, which could have contributed to the high death toll, Chavez said. Fire fighters and rescue workers from the Costa Rican Red Cross used ladders to evacuate people.
At least 15 people were killed, and the death toll could rise, Red Cross official Alexander Poras told the television station. Surviving patients were being evacuated to other hospitals.
The fire originated precisely in the area where the building's central staircase is located, and traveled quickly to the front, ''which made it impossible for people to go down through there,'' Chavez said.
One of the victims was identified as nurse Patricia Fallas, who was helping patients evacuate the fifth floor when she died of smoke inhalation. She was still holding a lit flashlight when her body was found, Chavez said.
Thirteen other victims also were located on the fifth floor, while the 15th was on the fourth, he said. Both floors were destroyed.
''I was with my mother on the fifth floor ... it was terrible,'' Luz Marina Chinchilla said between sobs. ''A nurse shouted and set off the alarm.''
Dr. Eduardo Saenz, who was on call at the time of the fire, said he was in the middle of a heart procedure on a patient when he smelled smoke and carried the patient out in his arms.
Many family members, seeing the news on television or receiving cell phone calls from patients being evacuated, rushed to the hospital to check on loved ones.
''I came to get my wife,'' Luis Prado said. ''I went up to the second floor, but they wouldn't let me beyond that. ... But I found my wife and helped her and brought her to an ambulance.''
Calderon Guardia is one of Costa Rica's main hospitals, receiving patients from all over the country. Months ago, there was a small fire in the same hospital and firefighters had been carrying out drills ever since.
Chavez said the building lacked the proper fire-prevention and response equipment.
''We recently approved a law on this but it was held up by a court appeal,'' he said. ''This is a case that should make people think. ... Unfortunately, this building did not have the proper fire prevention tools.''
