At least 23 people have been killed in a fire at a hospital treating coronavirus patients in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. Dozens of more people were injured in the blaze, reports BBC.
According to various media reports, a fire broke out in an oxygen tanker at Ibn Khatib Hospital in Baghdad on Saturday night.
The reports say that the accident had caused due to an oxygen tank explosion, sparking the blaze.
The country’s Civil Defense department said the fire was brought under control early Sunday morning.
Videos on social media showed that firefighters are scrambling to extinguish the flames as panicked people fled the building.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi called the incident a “terrible accident”. He called for a speedy investigation into the incident.
Major General Kadhim Bohan, head of the country’s Civil Defense, said the fire broke out in the hospital’s intensive care (ICU) unit.
He said rescue workers were able to rescue 90 of the 120 patients and their relatives. “At least 30 patients were in the ICU which was reserved for the most severe COVID patients in Baghdad,” he told AFP.
A similar accident in India recently killed at least 24 people at a hospital in Maharashtra. On April 21, 24 Covid-19 patients died due to oxygen shortage as an oxygen tanker leaked at a hospital in Maharashtra’s Nashik district. A day later, a fire at another hospital in Maharashtra killed 13 people.
