sAt least 82 people were killed and 110 others injured this morning in a fire and explosion at a hospital designated for Covid-19 southeast of Baghdad.
The fire occurred after the explosion of oxygen canisters “stored without regard for safety” in Ibn Al-Khatib Hospital in Baghdad, medical sources told AFP.
Many of the victims were connected to respirators when the oxygen tanks exploded, AFP reported, citing firefighters and doctors, causing a fire that quickly destroyed the hospital’s suspended ceilings made of flammable materials.
Videos have spread on social media showing firefighters trying to extinguish the fire, while patients and family members try to escape from the building located in the southeastern suburbs of Baghdad.
In turn, the official Iraqi News Agency reported that the fire may be caused by a short circuit or an explosion of oxygen cylinders in poor condition.
And more than 20 firefighting teams were able to extinguish the fire of this “huge fire,” according to the Iraqi Civil Defense, who said in a statement that they managed to save about 90 patients during the evacuation of the center.
The memo adds that dozens of neighbors helped the sick, most of them elderly people and people who had been connected to ventilators.
Meanwhile, in the face of the tragedy, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi announced that he had suspended Health Minister Hassan Al-Tamimi about the investigation of the fires.
In the gallery above, you can browse pictures of the pain of family members of the fire victims.
Read also: Covid-19. The Iraqi Minister of Health was arrested after a fire in the hospital
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