Prime Minister Mustafa-al-Qadimi ordered the suspension and arrest of those responsible
Baghdad, July 13 (IANS) | 60 people died in a fire in a Kovid-19 isolation ward at a hospital in Iraq, while many People are injured. The fire at the al-Hussein hospital in the southern city of Nasiriyah was brought under control late Monday, the BBC reported.
The exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, but preliminary reports suggest that it was caused by an explosion in the oxygen tank. Journalists have spoken of the charred bodies being pulled out of the building. Rescuers are still searching for survivors. “There are fears that people are still trapped inside the ward, which reportedly has room for 60 patients,” health official Haider al-Jamili told a major media outlet.
Death toll in #Iraq‘s #coronavirus hospital fire in Nassiriya city rises to 64, with nearly 70 people injured https://t.co/w0f3Gp72SD pic.twitter.com/2FElYYuAmB
— Arab News (@arabnews) July 13, 2021
Protesters demonstrated outside the hospital after the fire broke out and people posted on social media demanding the resignation of the officers. Iraq’s parliament speaker, Mohammed al-Halbousi, tweeted that the fires like this are clear evidence of the failure to protect the lives of the Iraqi people and that it is time to end this disastrous failure. Prime Minister Mustafa al-Qadimi also immediately took action against those responsible and ordered the suspension and arrest of health and civil defense managers.