Later on Monday, the coronavirus isolation ward of the Hussein Hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah was devoured by fire and people gathered.
- A fire in an Iraqi hospital has confirmed that at least 66 people have died.
- More than 100 people were injured.
- It is believed that sparks from the wiring fault spread to the oxygen tank, causing an explosion.
The Iraqi national news agency INA and health officials said on Tuesday that the death toll from the Iraqi coronavirus hospital fire has risen to 92 after some wounded died of severe burns.
Two health sources said that there are still 12 people-patients and hospital visitors-still missing, indicating that the number of casualties caused by the Nasirya fire on Monday night may still rise.
The police and civil defense departments stated that more than 100 people were injured in the fire. Investigations revealed that the fire started when sparks from a faulty wire spread to the oxygen tank and then exploded.
After a fire broke out, people searched in the ruins of the Covid-19 isolation ward that was destroyed in Al-Hussein Hospital.
AFP Assad Niazi/ AFP
This is the second such tragedy in Iraq in three months, and the country’s president on Tuesday blamed both on corruption.
When relatives gathered nearby, the rescue team was using heavy cranes to remove part of the charred and melted wreckage of the city’s al-Hussain hospital that was treating Covid-19 patients.
A doctor at the hospital declined to be named. His Monday shift ended a few hours before the fire broke out. He said the lack of basic safety measures meant that this was a brewing accident.
“The hospital does not have a fire sprinkler system, or even a simple fire alarm,” he told Reuters.
After a fire, people gathered in the destroyed Covid-19 isolation ward of Al-Hussein Hospital.
AFP Assad Niazi/ AFP
“In the past three months, we have complained many times that a cigarette butt may have a tragedy at any time, but every time we get the same answer from the health officials:’We don’t have enough money’.”
In April, a similar explosion occurred at the Covid-19 hospital in Baghdad, killing at least 82 people and injuring 110 others. The head of the semi-official Iraqi Human Rights Commission said Monday’s bombing showed that security measures are still ineffective in the health system paralyzed by war and sanctions.
“The recurrence of such a tragic incident a few months later means that (sufficient) measures have still not been taken to prevent them from happening,” Ali Bayati said.
Salah Jabbar, the head of the local civil defense authority, said that the hospital was built with lightweight sandwich panels to separate the wards, which made the fire spread faster.
People gathered near a fire truck and a fire engulfed the Covid-19 isolation ward of Al-Hussein Hospital.
AFP Assad Niazi/ AFP
His office said that the city’s health and civil defense manager and hospital manager were suspended and arrested on Monday according to the order of Prime Minister Mustafa Kadimi.
According to a statement, government investigators arrived in Nasiriyah on Tuesday morning. Kadimi’s office said their findings will be announced within a week.
‘lose’
President Barham Saleh wrote on Twitter that the two fires were “the result of local corruption and mismanagement, ignoring the lives of Iraqis.”
In the morgue of this city, anger spread among the people waiting to receive the bodies of their loved ones.
“There was no quick response to the fire, there were not enough firefighters. The sick were burned to death. This is a disaster,” said Mohamed Fashir, who was there waiting to receive his body.
After a fire, people searched in the ruins of the destroyed coronavirus isolation ward in Al-Hussein Hospital.
AFP Assad Niazi/ AFP
Two health officials said the dead in the fire on Monday included 21 charred bodies, but the identities are still unknown.
On Monday, a health worker told Reuters before entering the burning building that the fire trapped many patients in the coronavirus ward, making it difficult for rescue teams to reach.
In the Shiite holy city of Najaf, about 250 kilometers northwest of Nasiriyah, an angry Imad Hashim sobbed as he prepared to meet his mother, sister-in-law and niece who were killed in the fire.
“What should I say after losing my family,” the 46-year-old said. “There is no point in making any demands on a failed government. In three days, this case will be forgotten like everyone else.”
