Blaze at the Ibn Khatib hospital was caused by an accident involving an exploding oxygen tank
The Ibn Khatib hospital after the fire. Photograph: The A&O Board PSF
The Ibn Khatib hospital after the fire. Photograph: The A&O Board PSF
Reuters
Sat 24 Apr 2021 19.10 EDT
Last modified on Sat 24 Apr 2021 19.12 EDT
At least 27 people were killed and 46 injured in a fire on Saturday at a hospital in south-east Baghdad that had been equipped to house Covid-19 patients, medical sources at three nearby hospitals said.
The fire at the Ibn Khatib hospital in the Diyala Bridge area of the Iraqi capital occurred after an accident caused an oxygen tank to explode, the sources said.
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Dozens of people were killed when oxygen tank exploded late on Saturday at a hospital treating Covid-19 patients on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraqi security and health officials said.
The explosion caused a fire in the pulmonary intensive care unit on the second floor of the Ibn Al Khateeb hospital in Jisr Diyala district, the head of the Iraqi Civil Defenc
e said.
“Elderly and [coronavirus] patients were on pulmonary devices and that made it impossible for them to move,” Maj Gen Kadhim Bohan told state-run TV as firefighters battled flames behind him.
“The inferno and the smoke led to fatalities and injuries among them.”