More than two dozen people were killed after a fire broke out at a hospital in Iraq’s capital Baghdad on Saturday.
According to medical sources at three nearby hospitals, the hospital had been equipped to house COVID-19 patients.
They said the fire occurred after an accident caused an oxygen tank to explode.
Dozens of others were also injured in the fire.
Patients not injured during the incident were being transferred out of the hospital.
One official said the fire has since been put out.
Video on social media showed citizens joining firefighters as they searched a smoke-filled ward for more survivors.
At least 90 people have been rescued from the hospital out of 120,
state media said, quoting a government official.
Iraq’s healthcare system has been stretched thin during the global health crisis.
That’s on top of decades of sanctions, war and neglect.
The health ministry says more than a million people have been infected, and more than 15,000 dead so far.
Reuters
