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Fire service in Baghdad: clinic without fire protection
Photo: Murtadha Al-Sudani / AA / picture alliance
Dozens of people died in an explosion and subsequent fire in the corona ward of a hospital in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
82 people were killed and 110 others injured, the state agency INA reported, citing the Ministry of the Interior.
How exactly the fire in Al-Khatib hospital in southern Baghdad came about is still unclear.
A short circuit or a problem with the oxygen bottles were cited as possible reasons.
According to media reports, one of the bottles had exploded, causing flames to spread in the station.
The fire is said to have broken out in the middle of the night, as members of the clinic staff said.
Dozens of relatives kept watch at the beds of the 30 or so patients.
The flames spread to several floors.
The hospital did not have a fire protection system, said the civil defense.
False ceilings installed in the building also contributed to the fact that the flames spread to the “highly flammable products” stored in the clinic.
"The majority of the victims died because they had to be moved and disconnected from the ventilators"
Communication from Iraqi civil defense
"The majority of the victims died because they had to be moved and disconnected from the ventilators," said the civil protection authority.
Others died of smoke inhalation.
Pictures of the incident show clouds of smoke coming out of windows and rescue workers taking victims out of the hospital.
Firefighters soon got the flames under control.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kasimi ordered a swift investigation, and the government declared a three-day state mourning.
The director of the hospital and those responsible for the safety and maintenance of the hospital were arrested.
Al-Kasimi said the deaths were to be regarded as "martyrs."
With this rating, relatives can receive government financial assistance.
Demands for political consequences
The Iraqi government's human rights commission described the fire as "a crime against Covid-19 weakened patients who give their lives in the hands of the Ministry of Health and its facilities and die in flames instead of being treated."
She demanded from Prime Minister al-Kadhemi the dismissal of his health minister and a legal appraisal.
So far, around one million infections with the coronavirus have been reported in Iraq.
The vaccinations are making slow progress.
A total of around 175,000 people in the country have been vaccinated against the virus, most of them with the Astrazeneca vaccine.
The UN special envoy for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, spoke of a "shock" in a message.
She expressed her condolences to the relatives and urged better protective measures to prevent the same incident from happening again.
After years of conflict, the infrastructure in Iraq is still poor, with the United Nations supporting the health system there, among other things.
mxw / dpa / AFP / Reuters