Fire tears through Baghdad COVID hospital

Dozens of people have been killed and injured in a fire at a hospital in southeastern Baghdad that was treating coronavirus victims.

The blaze at the Ibn al-Khatib Hospital in the Diyala Bridge area of the Iraqi capital occurred after an oxygen tank exploded, medical sources said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi ordered an investigation into the deadly fire and vowed to hold anyone who was negligent accountable.

Videos on social media showed firefighters trying to extinguish flames at the hospital as patients and their relatives tried to flee the building. Witnesses said people jumped out of windows to escape the blaze.

The incident sparked outrage on social media, with Iraqis angry at the government and calling for the firing of the health minister.

Iraq’s hospitals have been worn down by decades of conflict and poor investment with shortages in medicines and hospital beds.

                           The head of Iraq’s civil defence unit said the fire broke out on the floor designated for the pulmonary intensive care unit.

           Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi ordered an investigation into the incident. 

        People and medical staff walk in Ibn al-Khatib Hospital after the fire caused by an oxygen tank explosion was been put out.

                 A COVID-19 patient is prepared for evacuation in an ambulance outside the Ibn al-Khatib Hospital.

    People gather outside Ibn al-Khatib Hospital after the deadly blaze.

          There were at least 120 patients in the hospital at the time of the fire, a doctor said.

   Patients not injured in the incident were transferred out of Ibn al-Khatib Hospital.

         Iraq is in the middle of a severe COVID-19 wave with rates averaging more than 8,000 new cases daily – the highest since the pandemic broke out last year.