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Baghdad (AP) - An explosion, thick smoke and soon afterwards the whole corona station in flames: In the serious accident in a hospital in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, 82 people were killed and 110 others were injured, said the Ministry of the Interior of the state agency According to INA, with.
The incident on Sunday night played out chaotic scenes.
At first there was talk of 20 and then around 60 fatalities, before the number was further corrected upwards on Sunday.
How exactly the fire in Al-Khatib hospital came about was initially unclear.
A short circuit or a problem with the oxygen bottles stored there were named as possible reasons.
According to media reports, one of the bottles had exploded, causing fire to spread in the station.
In a video of the incident, the explosion can be seen in a hallway, soon afterwards thick, white smoke spreads.
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The flames had spread to several rooms and raged on an entire floor, said an eyewitness to the German press agency.
Several young men tried to get patients to safety.
Smoke rose from windows.
Firefighters eventually put out the fire.
Whole rooms and corridors were then in charred rubble, as can be seen in pictures.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kasimi ordered a speedy investigation and arrested the director of the hospital and officials responsible for its security and maintenance.
The victims are to be regarded as "martyrs".
With this rating, relatives can receive government financial assistance.
In addition, a three-day state mourning was declared.
The Ministry of the Interior ruled out a criminal background.
So far, around one million infections with the coronavirus have been reported in Iraq.
The vaccinations are making slow progress.
A total of around 175,000 people in the country have been vaccinated against the virus, most of them with the Astrazeneca vaccine.
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The UN special envoy for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, spoke in a message of a "shock" and the "pain" after the tragedy.
She expressed her condolences to the relatives and urged better protective measures to prevent the same incident from happening again.
After years of conflict, the infrastructure in Iraq is still poor, with the United Nations supporting the health system there, among other things.
The human rights commission elected by parliament described the incident as a “crime against patients” who sought protection after their corona infection.
"As a result, they were burned instead of recovering," said the commission.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210425-99-344445 / 4
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Report of Hatha al-Youm (Arabic)
Communication from Hennis-Plasschaert