At least 27 people were killed and 46 injured in a fire on Saturday at a hospital in the Iraqi capital Baghdad that had been equipped to house Covid-19 patients.
The fire at the Ibn Khatib hospital in the south-eastern Diyala Bridge area of the capital broke out after an accident caused an oxygen tank to explode, the sources said.
Many ambulances were rushing towards the hospital, ferrying away those hurt by the fire.
Patients not injured in the incident were also being transferred out of the hospital.
The head of Iraqi civil defence unit told the state news agency INA that the fire broke out on the floor designated for the pulmonary intensive care unit and that 90 of 120 people in the hospital have been rescued.
Maj Gen Kadhim Bohan added that the fire has now been put out.
Iraq’s healthcare system, already ruined by decades of sanctions, war and neglect, has been stretched further during the coronavirus crisis.
The total number of people infected with Covid-19 in Iraq is 1,025,288 including 15,217 deaths, the health ministry said on Saturday.
