ANGER MOUNTS AFTER 92 DIE IN FIRE IN NASSIRIYA COVID WARD
NASSIRIYA The death toll from a fire that tore through a coronavirus hospital in southern Iraq rose to 92, health officials said on Tuesday, as authorities faced accusations of negligence from grieving relatives and a doctor who works there.
More than 100 people were injured in the blaze on Monday night in Nassiriya, officials said.
An investigation showed the fire began when sparks from faulty wiring spread to an oxygen tank that then exploded, police and civil defence authorities said.
It was Iraq's second such tragedy in three months, and the country's president on Tuesday blamed corruption for both. A statement from the prime minister's office called for national mourning.
Rescue teams were using a heavy crane to remove the charred and melted remains of the part of the city's al-hussain hospital where COVID-19 patients were being treated, as relatives gathered nearby.
In April, a similar explosion at a Baghdad COVID-19 hospital killed at least 82 and injured 110.
President Barham Salih on Twitter said both fires were “the result of endemic corruption and mismanagement that disregards the lives of Iraqis.”
At the city's morgue, anger spread among people gathered as they waited to receive their relatives' bodies.
“No quick response to the fire, not enough firefighters. Sick people burned to death. It's a disaster,” said Mohammed Fadhil, waiting to receive his brother's body.