Two patients have died after a fire at a hospital in central France, said Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau as he visited Limoges on Saturday.
Of the two dead, one person was near the end of his life and the other had been receiving care at the hospital for several days, he said.
A post by the hospital on Facebook said it was still unclear whether the death of one of the two victims was related to the fire.
Late on Friday, a fire broke out in a patient's room at the hospital, the facility said.
The patients from the affected ward were transferred to other areas of the hospital, with some two dozen patients affected, according to media reports.
Security staff and firefighters managed to gain control of the fire relatively quickly, according to the hospital.
