Photo: REUTERS/Osman Orsal

ISTANBUL - A fire at a hospital in Istanbul on Thursday rapidly engulfed the building's exterior cladding, but officials said it had not spread inside and there were no reports of casualties. Firefighters continued to tackle the blaze several hours after the fire started on the roof of the Taksim Training and Research Hospital in Gaziosmanpasa, a district in the northern part of the Turkish city.
A fire breaks out on the roof of a hospital in Gaziosmanpasa, Istanbul, and spreads down the outside to ground level. Minister of Health Ahmet Demircan say all patients have been evacuated and transferred to hospitals elsewhere by ambulances.