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At Least 66 Dead in Fire in Iraqi Hospital COVID Ward
Burnt hospital beds and blankets remain in the fire-ravaged coronavirus isolation ward of Al-Hussein hospital, in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, after an oxygen tank exploded on July 13, 2021. (Asaad Niazi/AFP via Getty Images)

At Least 66 Dead in Fire in Iraqi Hospital COVID Ward

A fire that swept through a coronavirus ward in a hospital in southern Iraq has killed at least 66 people and injured more than 100.

The fire on Monday at Al-Hussein Teaching Hospital in the city of Nasiriyah is believed to have been started by sparks from faulty wiring that caused an oxygen tank to explode. The coronavirus isolation ward, which opened three months ago, had 70 patients. Some of the dead are reported to be hospital staff. Some of the bodies were so charred that they could not immediately be identified, Reuters reported. Several people remain missing.

It is the second fire in a hospital coronavirus unit in the last three months. In April, 82 people were killed and at least 110 injured in a hospital in Baghdad.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi formed a governmental committee to launch a high-level investigation into the causes of the fire and announced the suspension of the directors of Dhi Qar Governorate’s Health Department, Nasiriyah’s civil defense force, and the hospital.

The walls of the ward were made of flammable sandwich panels, Arab News reported.

An official day of mourning was declared for the victims.

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