AT LEAST 82 DIE IN FIRE AT BAGHDAD COVID-19 HOSPITAL

Sun 25 April 2021:

UPDATE:

The death toll in the fire at a Baghdad hospital for treating coronavirus patients has increased to 82, while 110 others were injured, Iraqi state-run INA news agency reported on Sunday, citing the Interior Ministry.

Earlier in the day, a member of the local supreme commission on human rights, Ali Al Bayati, said that 58 people had been killed in the fire.

A fire broke out at a hospital for treating coronavirus patients in Baghdad, leaving 27 people dead and 40 more injured, news portal Baghdad Al Youm reported, citing sources.

The blaze was reportedly caused the explosion of an oxygen cylinder.

The flames spread quickly, according to civil defence officials, as “the hospital had no fire protection system and false ceilings allowed the flames to spread to highly flammable products”.

A witness who was visiting his brother when the fire broke out described people jumping out of windows as the fire spread quickly throughout the unit equipped to treat COVID-19 patients.

“In the beginning, there was an explosion,” said an unidentified relative of one of the patients who was there at the time of the blast. “People were jumping… Doctors fell on the cars. Everyone was jumping.”

Major-General Kadhim Bohanm, head of the Iraqi civil defence unit, said 90 of a total of 120 patients and relatives had been rescued, state news agency INA quoted him as saying.

The fire has been put out, he added.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi has ordered to detain the head of a Baghdad hospital, where over 20 people died in a fire, as part of a probe into the incident, the prime minister’s office said on Sunday.

“Al-Kadhimi has ordered to immediately launch an investigation into the causes of the tragedy …

An investigation will be into the director of the hospital, the director of the security service and those responsible for maintaining the equipment in the hospital. Until the end of the investigation, they will be detained,” the office said in a message.

Videos on social media showed firefighters trying to extinguish flames at the hospital on the southeastern outskirts of the Iraqi capital, as patients and their relatives tried to flee the building.

Surveillance video shows moment fire erupts inside Ibn Khatib hospital in Baghdad #Esta #Iraq #Baghdad pic.twitter.com/nmjmF4nVX4

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) April 25, 2021

A fire broke out at a hospital for treating coronavirus patients in Baghdad, leaving 27 people dead and 40 more injured.#Iraq #Baghdad #Hospital #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/rt151utZwB

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) April 25, 2021

#Iraq | At least 23 people were killed and 44 injured in a fire on Saturday at a hospital in southeastern #Baghdad that had been equipped to house #COVID19 patients, medical sources at three nearby hospitals said. https://t.co/qJ9bN9GpRT pic.twitter.com/rkOyOkGCqF

— Atlantide (@Atlantide4world) April 24, 2021

#BREAKING #Iraq #Baghdad: In Al-Khatib hospital, South of Baghdad, fire broke out due to explosion of Oxygen tank, used for cvid patients. More than 20 people killed..#BreakingNews #WorldNews #OxygenExplosion #OxygenShortage #Video
Suribelle pic.twitter.com/aSfDxPoBH7

— loveworld (@LoveWorld_Peopl) April 24, 2021

At least two doctors at the scene confirmed they believed an oxygen cylinder had caused the flames that raged through the second floor of the hospital.

“The majority of the victims died because they had to be moved and were taken off ventilators, while the others were suffocated by the smoke,” the civil defence said.

The health ministry, which did not put out a statement until several hours after the fire, said it had “saved more than 200 patients”, and promised an official toll of the dead and wounded later.

The fire triggered outrage on social media in spite of the prime minister’s investigation announcement.

“That is not enough for Iraqis,” Foltyn said. “We often hear the government promising investigations but we rarely see the results or the government officials responsible for what appears to be neglect or mismanagement being brought to account.”

The total number of people who have been infected with COVID-19 in Iraq is 102,528 including 15,217 deaths, the health ministry said on Saturday.

Iraq launched its coronavirus vaccination campaign last month and has received nearly 650,000 doses of different vaccines – the majority by donation or through the COVAX programme, which is helping lower and middle-income nations to procure vaccines.