A fire tore through the intensive care unit and the maternity ward of a Saudi hospital before dawn on Thursday, killing at least 24 people and injuring 123, officials said.<br />The fire broke out at the general hospital in the southwestern port city of Jazan, the capital of the Jizan region, one of Saudi Arabia's poorest areas.<br />The civil defense agency said 25 people died but a later statement by Health Minister Khalid al-Falih put the death toll at 24.<br />Two of the dead were security guards and one was a child, officials said.<br />Government-controlled al-Ekhbariya television interviewed a witness who said the cause of the fire seemed to be electrical, and that it took only three minutes to sweep through the hospital.
