BEIJING — Twenty-one people have died in a fire at a Beijing hospital that forced the evacuation of dozens of patients, Chinese state media reported.

Staff removed 71 patients after the fire broke out Tuesday in the inpatient department of Beijing Changfeng Hospital, state media including CGTN reported.

Videos of the fire circulating on social media show black smoke billowing from the building, with some people climbing out of the windows using what appears to be makeshift ropes made out of bedsheets.

Others took refuge on air conditioning units outside the windows.

State media said the fire has been extinguished and rescue work has been completed. The cause of the fire is under investigation, the reports said. Hospital fires are rare in China.

The fire broke out at about 12:57 p.m. and was extinguished at about 13.33 p.m. after an emergency team rushed to the scene of the accident in Beijing’s Changfeng Hospital, according to the Beijing Daily.

“It’s tragic. I can see the accident from the window of my house. A lot of people were standing on the air conditioning unit at noon, and some even jumped off,” said a Weibo netizen.

The blaze is one of the most deadly in Beijing in recent years, surpassing the toll from a fire in 2017 that killed 19 in a cramped two-story building in Daxing district in the capital’s southern suburb.

That Daxing tragedy prompted authorities to demolish large swaths of buildings deemed illegal or unsafe in the neighborhood and forced thousands of migrant workers out of their homes and businesses. — Agencies