Iranian president, Leader’s representative condole with Iraq following deadly hospital blaze
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the representative of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in Iraq condoled with the Iraqi nation following a deadly fire incident that tore through the coronavirus ward of a hospital in southern Iraq early this week.
In a message to Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-kadhimi, President Rouhani offered condolences to him and the Iraqi people, according to the president’s official website.
The tragic incident which led to the death and injury of dozens of Iraqis caused great sorrow and grief, the Iranian president said.
Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini, the Leader’s representative in Iraq, also in a message expressed his condolences over the incident.
“On this painful occasion, I express my sincerest condolences with the dear nation of Iraq, and especially to the families of the victims, and I ask God to bestow patience and countless [heavenly] rewards upon the relatives of the victims,” Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini said in a message on Tuesday, according to Press TV.
Hosseini wished for the quick recovery of those who sustained injuries during the incident.
He also hailed the people of Nasiriya for their “heroic stances” in ridding Iraq of Daesh terrorists and their “rich record” of fighting former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s Ba’athist regime.
Late on Monday night, a fast-spreading blaze tore through the new isolation ward at the Imam Hussein Teaching Hospital in the Iraqi city of Nasiriya. The fire continued until early Tuesday, marking the second such tragedy in the Arab country in less than three months.
The Iraqi Health Ministry on Wednesday in a statement revised down the number of fatalities in the incident, putting the death toll at 60, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The ministry rejected earlier reports by the media about a higher number of casualties, according to the statement.
Earlier, the Iraqi Civil Defense Center had reported 124 deaths.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf also expressed his condolences to his Iraqi counterpart, Mohamed alhalbousi, over the unfortunate incident.
“On this occasion, I offer my condolences to your excellency, the esteemed members of parliament, the government and people of the friendly and brotherly country of the Republic of Iraq, and especially to the bereaved families,” Qalibaf said in a Tuesday message.
The head of Iraq’s Human Rights Commission said the incident demonstrated how ineffective the country’s safety and contingency plans still were in a health system afflicted by war and sanctions.
“To have such a tragic incident repeated a few months later means that still no contingency plans have been put in place to prevent them,” Ali Bayati said.
Iraq’s President Barham Salih said via Twitter that the latest fire incidents were “the result of endemic corruption and mismanagement that disregards the lives of Iraqis”.