The death toll from a fire that raged through a coronavirus hospital in southern Iraq has risen to 92, according to health officials, as an angry mob gathered near the city’s mortuary, condemning local authorities for incompetence.
More than 100 people were injured in the fire in Nassiriya on Monday night, which began when sparks from faulty wiring moved to an oxygen tank, which subsequently burst, according to local police and civil defense officials.
There was a similar explosion like that in April in the same Baghdad COVID-19 hospital which claimed at least 82 lives and leaving 110 injured. Monday’s incident, according to the president of Iraq’s semi-official Human Rights Commission, demonstrated how ineffective safety measures in a health system ravaged by war and sanctions remain.
Ali Bayati a spokesman for Iraq’s independent and semi-official Human Rights Commission. said for such an incident to reoccur after some months means that there were no adequate measures taken to prevent it.
People assembled at Nassiriya’s morgue were enraged as they awaited the arrival of relatives’ bodies. Mohammed Fadhil who was waiting to receive his brother’s corpse said there was a delay in response to the fire and there were not enough firefighters and sick people were burnt to death.
According to two health officials, the fatalities from Monday’s fire included 21 unidentified burned bodies. Many patients were stuck inside the hospital’s coronavirus unit, which rescue personnel struggled to reach, according to a health worker who entered the blazing structure.
On Monday, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi ordered the suspension and detention of health and civil defence officials in Nassiriya, as well as the manager of the al-Hussain hospital, according to his office.
