Seoul, July 13 : About 200 patients were forced to evacuate from a hospital in the South Korean city of Daegu early on Thursday due to a fire, the Yonhap news agency reports, citing South Korea’s fire officials.

The fire of unknown origin broke out at 3 a.m. local time (18:00 GMT on Wednesday) at the hospital parking tower in Daegu’s Dalseo district, the report said. Some 170 firefighters and 65 fire engines managed to extinguish the fire approximately two hours later.

A woman in her 70s, one of the patients evacuated from the hospital, said she was having difficulty in breathing and was taken to a nearby hospital, the officials said.

Daegu fire authorities and police will investigate the incident to determine the exact cause of the blaze, the agency reported.