Toll climbs to 82 in Baghdad hospital fire, says Iraq government – The Washington Post

The explosion of an oxygen cylinder soon engulfed the whole hospital, including a ward of helpless covid patients.

At least 82 people were killed in the fire which ripped through a Baghdad coronavirus ward, Iraq’s Interior Ministry said Sunday, sparking anger and frustration over the state of the country’s buckling health system.

Another 110 people were wounded in the blaze at Baghdad’s Ibn al-Khatib hospital late Saturday, a ministry official told Iraqi state media.

President Barham Salih described the tragedy as a “wound for the whole nation,” while Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi announced an investigation into the blaze, declared three days of national mourning and suspended top health officials.

Iraq is in the worst phase of its coronavirus pandemic, averaging around 8,000 new cases daily as the health system struggles to cope. The country’s human rights commission said that 28 of the patients killed in Saturday’s fire had been on life support when the smoke and flames reached their ward.

Source: Toll climbs to 82 in Baghdad hospital fire, says Iraq government – The Washington Post