27 dead in fire at Baghdad hospital for Covid patients

At least 27 people were killed and 46 injured in a fire on Saturday at a hospital in southeastern Baghdad that had been equipped to house Covid-19 patients, medical sources at three nearby hospitals said.

The fire at the Ibn Khatib hospital in the Diyala Bridge area of the Iraqi capital occurred after an accident caused an oxygen tank to explode, the sources said. Many ambulances were rushing towards the hospital, ferrying away those hurt by the fire, a Reuters photographer nearby said. Patients not injured in the incident were also being transferred out of the hospital, the medical sources said.

The head of the Iraqi civil defence unit said the fire broke out in the floor designated for the pulmonary intensive care unit and that 90 people have been rescued from the hospital out of 120, state news agency INA quoted him as saying.

Major General Kadhim Bohan added that the fire has been put out. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa alKadhimi ordered an investigation into the incident in the early hours of Sunday.

"Such an incident is evidence of negligence and therefore I directed that an investigation be launched immediately and for the hospital's manager and the heads of security and maintenance to be detained along with all those concerned until we identify those negligent and hold them accountable."

Several victims' families were still at the hospital hours after the fire had been put out, having been unable to locate them elsewhere. An eyewitness who was visiting his brother when the fire broke out described people jumping out of windows as the fire, caused by the explosion of an oxygen bottle, spread quickly throughout the unit equipped to house Covid-19 patients. Patients' relatives scrambled to save their loved ones.