Kurdistan Region offers assistance to victims of Baghdad coronavirus hospital fire
At Al-Khateeb Hospital, a Baghdad intensive care hospital for COVID-19 patients, the blaze broke out that was reportedly caused by exploding oxygen cylinders.
Initial tallies by health officials and firefighters put the fatalities near 20, but later on Sunday, the interior ministry announced that 82 people had in fact been killed and 110 others injured
In a statement released on Sunday, Barzani said that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) would “offer all the necessary assistance for the victims of the blast, particularly medical aid and receiving the injured ones.”
The Kurdish leader also extended his condolences to the victims’ families and wished survivors a speedy recovery.
Following the incident, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi announced a three-day national period of mourning and an immediate probe into the exact cause and who was responsible.
Medical sources who spoke to AFP about the fire said the cause was “a fault in the storage of oxygen cylinders,” while others blamed the lack of basic safety measures at the medical facility.
What exacerbated the situation and likely contributed to the large number of deaths was an estimated 300 to 400 patients at the hospital who were in serious enough condition to require a ventilator to breathe effectively after suffering limited respiratory capacity as a result of their coronavirus infections.
"The majority of the victims died because they had to be moved and were taken off ventilators, while the others were suffocated by the smoke," Iraqi civil defense workers told the French agency.
The fire came as the country struggles with rising COVID-19 infections, lately recording over 8,600 daily cases. More than 15,000 in Iraq have died due to the virus since the outbreak of the global pandemic in late 2019.
Editing by John J. Catherine
