Baghdad: An oxygen tank explosion at al-Hussain coronavirus hospital at Iraq’s southern city of Nassiriya killed at least 44 people and over 67 people were injured police said.
Soon after the incident Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi held meetings with all the senior’s ministers and ordered to suspend and arrest the health and civil defence managers in Nassiriya said the official statement. Moreover, the manager of the coronavirus hospital was suspended and ordered to arrest.
The initial police report said that an oxygen tank explosion inside the hospital’s Covid-19 wards was the likely cause of the fire.
Iraq already pulled down by the war situation, its healthcare system has struggled to cope with the coronavirus crisis, which has killed 17,592 people and infected more than 1.4 million.
Meanwhile, the health officials at Nassiriya stated that search operations at the al-Hussain coronavirus hospital were in progress and the fire was brought under control, but the thick smoke was making it difficult to enter some of the burnt wards.
According to the source, it is assumed that the death toll could rise as many patients were still missing. Moreover, among the death two were identified as health workers of the hospital.
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