92 killed, dozens injured in Iraq Covid-19 hospital fire

Baghdad: At least 92 people have been killed and dozens wounded in the huge fire that broke out at a hospital in Iraq’s southern province of Dhi Qar, reports said.

On Monday evening, the fire broke out in the quarantine center of the al-Hussein Hospital in the provincial capital al-Nasiriyah, and quickly spread to the nearby 20 sandwich panel caravans. the official Iraqi News Agency reported.

Firefighters and teams of civil defence rushed to the scene to evacuate the patients and health workers, and they put out the fire hours later.

On Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi held a cabinet meeting, during which he pledged to announce the result of the investigation into the fire within a week, according to a statement issued by the prime minister’s media office.

Meanwhile, al-Kadhimi decided to suspend and detain the director-general of the provincial health department, the director of the hospital and the provincial civil defense director, and ordered an investigation into the deadly incident, said the statement.

He also declared a three-day national mourning for the victims, it added.

(IANS)