More than 60 people killed in fire at COVID-19 hospital in Iraq
Baghdad (QNN)- At least 64 people were killed and more than 67 injured in a fire at a COVID-19 hospital in the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on Monday night.
Health officials said that the blaze at Al-Hussein Hospital was caused by an oxygen tank explosion.
The Al-Hussein Hospital was set up at the start of the pandemic to treat coronavirus patients and it has quarantine stations on site. Nasiriya, in Dhi Qar province, is about 360 kilometers (225 miles) southeast of Iraq’s capital, Baghdad.
In April, at least 82 people were also killed and 110 people injured after a similar accident at a COVID-19 clinic in Baghdad.
“Sixty-four were retrieved and 39 identified and handed over to their families,” a source at the Dhi Qar Forensic Science Department told AFP.
“Medical teams and relatives of victims are finding it difficult to identify the rest of the corpses.”
The death toll might rise further with more bodies feared buried under the rubble.
Outside the hospital, dozens of young demonstrators protested.
“The perpetrators must be deterred… The state must take the necessary measures… to confront the corrupt,” a young protester told AFP on Tuesday.
He said those responsible must be held “accountable… in transparent investigations that show people that it (the state) is serious about putting an end to these tragedies.”
In a tweet on Tuesday, Iraqi President Barham Salih blamed the “catastrophe” at Al-Hussein Hospital on “persistent corruption and mismanagement that undervalues the lives of Iraqis”.
Salih recalled that the April fire in Baghdad was also sparked by the explosion of badly stored oxygen cylinders.
فاجعة مستشفى الحسين (ع) في ذي قار وقبلها مستشفى ابن الخطيب في بغداد، نتاج الفساد المستحكم وسوء الإدارة الذي يستهين بأرواح العراقيين ويمنع اصلاح أداء المؤسسات، التحقيق والمحاسبة العسيرة للمقصرين هو عزاء أبنائنا الشهداء وذويهم. لا بد من مراجعة صارمة لأداء المؤسسات وحماية المواطنين.
— Barham Salih (@BarhamSalih) July 13, 2021
During an emergency meeting on Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi ordered the suspension and detention of the director of health in Dhi Qar, the director of the hospital and the director of civil defense in the province, according to a statement from his office.
A high-level government investigation into the incident has also been initiated.
