BOGOTA – At least nine people, including patients and employees, were injured when a boiler exploded at a hospital in the southern Colombian city of Ibague, the capital of Tolima province, Social Protection Minister Diego Palacio said.

“The boilers at Ibague’s Federico Lleras Hospital exploded. We have nine injured and are working on this,” Palacio said.

The minister informed President Alvaro Uribe, who he had accompanied to a meeting in Bogota at which health system users aired complaints, about the accident.

The explosion occurred Saturday in the boilers inside one of the buildings in the hospital complex, which was completely evacuated, National Police region two commander Gen. Luis Santoyo said.

The 10-story building was cleared and all the patients were taken to other hospitals in Ibague, located 212 kilometers (about 132 miles) southwest of Bogota, Santoyo said.

Federico Lleras Hospital is the largest medical facility in Ibague, the capital of Tolima province, and treats patients from at least six neighboring provinces.

The explosion, which ignited a fire, was apparently caused by a mechanical problem in a gas-fired boiler.