A burning fire struck in the early morning at the Rafael Angel Calderon Guardia Hospital hotel in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, which is believed to have killed at least 18 people. The fire engulfed the central staircase of the five story hotel, and spread to the rooms. The reason the fire was devastating was that the building lacked defenses against fire such as a smoke alarms, a sprinkler system, and most shockingly, emergency exits; on live Costa Rican television people in the hospital could be seen climbing ledges and leaping along clotheslines. According to the Red Cross, at least 116 people escaped the blaze and are kept elsewhere at other hospitals.