Five people died and some 40 were injured after a fire broke out at a building that housed a hospital in the Gyeonggi provincial city of Icheon on Friday morning.

According to the local police, there were 46 people inside the dialysis clinic located on the highest floor of the four-story building, including 33 patients and 13 medical staff, when the fire broke out at a virtual golf gaming center one floor below,

Of the five people who died, three were identified as dialysis patients and one a nurse. The last fatality is in the process of being identified. Police and fire inspectors believe their cause of death was asphyxiation due to smoke inhalation.

The fire started at 10:17 a.m. and was contained at 11:29 a.m., but took longer to complete rescue operations due to the billows of smoke in the building.