A fire swept through coronavirus Iraqi medical officials said late Monday that at least 50 people were killed and dozens were injured in wards in southern Iraq.
Officials said that when the fire broke out at the Hussein Teaching Hospital in the southern city of Nasiriyah, all the victims suffered severe burns. They said that at least 50 people were killed and others were in critical condition.
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Officials said the fire was caused by a short circuit, but did not provide more details. Another health official in Dhi Qar province, where Nasiriyah is located, said that when an oxygen cylinder exploded, the fire broke out.
The Ministry of Health has not yet provided an official account of the cause of the fire.
Two medical officials, who asked not to be named, said that the new ward that opened only three months ago had 70 beds.
Dhi Qar health department spokesperson Ammar al-Zamili told local media that there were at least 63 patients in the ward when the fire started. Major General Khalid Bohan, the head of the Iraqi Civil Defense Department, said in a comment to the media that the building was constructed of flammable materials and could easily catch fire.
This is the second time this year that a fire in an Iraqi hospital has caused the death of a coronavirus patient. In April, an oxygen tank in Baghdad’s Ibn al-Khateeb hospital exploded, causing a fire and killing at least 82 people.
This incident exposed the general negligence and systematic mismanagement of Iraqi hospitals. Doctors condemned the loose safety rules, especially around oxygen cylinders.
Iraq is in the midst of another severe COVID-19 wave. Last week, the daily coronavirus infection rate peaked, reaching 9,000 new cases.
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