UELZEN (dpa-AFX) - Another person has died following the devastating fire in a clinic in the town of Uelzen in Lower Saxony. The number of fatalities has thus risen to five. The patient was initially taken to another hospital after the fire and then died there on Friday afternoon from his life-threatening injuries, said a spokesman for the Lüneburg police station on Friday evening. The NDR had initially reported.

According to the police, three of the victims died in the hospital, another person was also taken to another hospital and then died there. All of the victims were patients, according to Helios Kliniken Schwerin GmbH and the police. Age and gender were not initially disclosed. The police also spoke of a double-digit number of casualties; according to the Fresenius subsidiary's hospital, six people were seriously injured and 16 others suffered minor and moderate injuries.

The cause of the fire, which broke out on the third floor of the clinic late on Thursday evening and spread to several patient rooms, was unclear./len/DP/he