Iraq: at least 60 dead in fire at Nassiriya hospital
The Covid-19 care unit at the Nassiriya hospital in Iraq, which was burnt down.
Photo taken July 13.
REUTERS - KHALID AL-MOUSILY
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At least sixty people perished in the terrible fire which ravaged the Covid-19 unit of the Nassiriya hospital in southern Iraq on Monday evening, according to a report communicated Tuesday to Agence France-Presse by a responsible for the city's central morgue.
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The Nassiriya mortuary received 60 charred bodies.
But the toll could still grow, some patients have not yet been found.
The fire was caused by the explosion of oxygen cylinders, according to a health source in Dhi Qar province.
It ravaged the Covid-19 unit of the hospital, which had 70 beds, for several hours, and gave rise to scenes of chaos, firefighters, rescuers and residents trying to get the sick from the building.
The director of the hospital and the provincial health official were heard by the police and suspended by the Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kazimi, who also declared a three-day national mourning for the “
martyrs
” of Nassiriya.
But many angry reactions erupted after the tragedy to denounce the mismanagement and ineffectiveness of the public authorities.
Hundreds of people demonstrated in the night in front of the hospital in Nassiriya, shouting: “
The politicians are burning us!
"
►Also read: Deadly fire in a hospital in Iraq: a wind of anger blows over Baghdad
In April, a similar tragedy killed more than 80 people in the fire at a hospital dedicated to Covid-19 in Baghdad, caused by a series of negligence that led to the resignation of the then Minister of Health.
Most Iraqi hospitals are dormant and the health system has been dilapidated for years, plagued by economic hardship and corruption.
(
With
AFP)
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Iraq
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Coronavirus
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