China News Service, April 26. According to foreign media reports, a fire accident occurred in a designated hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, on the evening of the 24th, causing 82 deaths and 110 injuries.
This tragic accident caused anger among the people, demanding that officials be held accountable.
Iraqi Prime Minister Hadmi has requested a thorough investigation of the accident and ordered the Minister of Health to temporarily suspend.
The picture shows people gathering outside the hospital.
According to reports, on the evening of the 24th, several oxygen tanks exploded and caused a fire in the Ibn Khatib Hospital in the eastern part of the capital, Baghdad, which specializes in treating patients with new crowns.
According to figures released by the Iraqi Ministry of Health, the accident has caused at least 82 deaths and 110 injuries.
Many of the victims were severely ill patients who had been treated with respirators. They either suffocated to death or were burned to death.
Civil defense and firefighting personnel arrived at the scene and rescued about 90 COVID-19 patients and medical staff who were besieged by the fire, and successfully extinguished the fire. Many rescued personnel were injured or suffocated by fragments from the oxygen tank explosion.
The picture shows the explosion site.
A source revealed that the explosion of the oxygen tank occurred because of "storage errors."
The Iraqi Civil Defense Authority pointed out that Khatib Hospital was not equipped with a fire fighting system and the decorated ceiling caused the fire to spread to highly flammable materials.
After the incident, angry people demanded the resignation of Minister of Health Tamimi on social media. Prime Minister Hadmi has temporarily suspended him for investigation and at the same time traced whether Baghdad Governor Jaber was also negligent.
Witnesses said that the evacuation was slow and chaotic at the time of the incident. Patients and their families rushing to the exit burst the stairs.
Amir, 35, told Agence France-Presse: "The people who rescued the wounded were the people." He also said that he rescued his brother who was hospitalized when he was "on the brink."
Iraqi President Saleh tweeted on social media: "The tragedy at Khatib Hospital is the result of years of corruption and mismanagement of state institutions."
The Iraqi Human Rights Commission also supported the removal of Tamimi, and criticized the fire as "a crime committed by patients whose physical strength has been exhausted by the new crown epidemic. These patients entrust their lives to the Ministry of Health and its affiliated institutions, ... they Should have been treated, but died of the fire."