DEADLY HOSPITAL FIRE NO ACCIDENT, IRAQ’S HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE SAYS

Wed 28 April 2021:

A recent deadly blaze at the Ibn al-Khatib hospital in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad was not an accident, the chairman of the human rights committee in Iraqi parliament, Arshad al-Salihi, told media on Wednesday.

Fire broke out in the COVID-19 hospital this past Sunday. Started by an explosion of an oxygen cylinder, the blaze claimed the lives of 90 people, according to reports. The official death toll is 82 people killed and 110 others injured.

“The incident is a stain of shame on the forehead of the influential political blocs.

At the same time, the incident was not accidental; while the safety protocols had indeed not been enforced, but what brought the food heater into the lobby, and why was the middle-management not there?” al-Salihi said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi has suspended Health Minister Hassan Al-Tamimi, as well as the hospital’s head and several Baghdad officials, as they are being probed. The families of the victims will be compensated 10 million Iraqi dinars ($7,000) each.

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