Senior expert team sent to help treat those injured in Beijing hospital fire

BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- China's National Health Commission (NHC) has sent an expert team to guide the treatment of those injured in the Beijing Changfeng Hospital fire, said the NHC on Wednesday.

A national expert team specializing in severe diseases, respiratory diseases, burns, cardiology and other fields was set up to jointly treat the patients, together with specialists from the capital city, while officials with the NHC went to the scene to conduct on-site guidance on treatment.

The NHC said that the lives of the injured should be the top priority, pledging that it fully supports Beijing in providing medical treatment for the injured.

The death toll from the fire, which broke out Tuesday at Beijing Changfeng Hospital and was extinguished within an hour, has risen to 29, according to a press conference on Wednesday.

As of 6 a.m. Wednesday, 39 others injured in the fire were being treated in other hospitals, said an official at the press conference.