82 killed in Baghdad hospital blaze

Baghdad, April 25

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Iraq’s Interior Ministry said Sunday that 82 persons died and 110 were injured in a catastrophic fire that broke out in the intensive care unit of a Baghdad hospital tending to severe Covid patients.

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The administration of US President Joe Biden has offered assistance to Iraqi officials. The US Government is in touch with Iraqi officials, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said. Reuters

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Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi suspended the Health Minister and referred him for investigation after a fire at a Baghdad hospital, a government statement said on Sunday. Reuters

Oxygen tank explosion sparked fire

• Negligence on the part of hospital authorities has been blamed for the Saturday night fire, which initial reports suggest was caused when an oxygen cylinder exploded in the ward of Ibn al-Khatib hospital. Firefighters rushed to battle the flames that raged across the second floor of the hospital.
• Ambulances transported dozens of wounded patients. The Health Ministry said at least 200 persons were rescued from the scene.

Negligence on the part of hospital authorities has been blamed for the Saturday night fire, which initial reports suggest was caused when an oxygen cylinder exploded in the ward of Ibn al-Khatib hospital. Iraq’s Prime Minister fired key hospital officials hours after the catastrophic incident.

At least 28 patients battling severe symptoms of the virus were on ventilators, tweeted Ali al-Bayati, a spokesman of the country’s independent Human Rights Commission.

Firefighters rushed to battle the flames that raged across the second floor of the hospital. Civil defence teams put out the fire until the early hours of the morning. Ambulances transported dozens of wounded.

The Health Ministry said at least 200 persons were rescued from the scene. Doctors were frazzled by the chaos unfolding around them. They said numerous burnt bodies were carried out by paramedics from the hospital floor. The fire came as Iraq grapples with a severe second wave of the Covid pandemic.

In response to the fire, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi fired the director-general of the Baghdad Health Department in the al-Rusafa area, where the hospital is located.

He also fired the director of Ibh al-Khatib Hospital and its director of engineering and maintenance, according to a statement from the Health Ministry and his office. Al-Khadhimi held an emergency meeting at the headquarters of the Baghdad Operations Command, seeking a probe report within 24 hours. — AP