Heartbeat Desk
The death toll in a fire that spread through a covid hospital in southern Iraq rose to 66, health officials said on Tuesday, as an angry mob blaming local authorities for negligence gathered near the city’s morgue, reports Reuters.
More than 100others were injured in Monday night’s fire in the city of Nassiriya, which an initial investigation showed began when sparks from faulty wiring spread to an oxygen tank that then exploded, local police and civil defence authoritiessaid.
In April, a similar explosion at Baghdad COVID-19 hospital killed at least 82 and injured 110. The head of Iraq’s semi-official Human Rights Commission said Monday’s blast showed how ineffective safety measures in a health system crippled by war and sanctions still were.
“To have such a tragic incident repeated few months later means that still no (sufficient) measures have been taken to prevent them,” Ali Bayati said.
While awaiting to receive the dead bodies of the relatives,anger spread among people gathered at Nassiriya’s morgue .
“No quick response to the fire, not enough firefighters. Sick people burned to death. It’s a disaster,” said Mohammed Fadhil, who was waiting there to receive his bother’s body.
Two health officials said the dead from Monday’s fire included 21 charred bodies that were still unidentified.
The blaze trapped many patients inside the hospital’s coronavirus ward, who rescue teams struggled to reach, a health worker told Reuters on Monday before entering the burning building.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi had ordered the suspension and arrest of health and civil defence managers in Nassiriya on Monday, as well as the al-Hussain hospital’s manager, his office said.
Discussion about this post