A fire breaks out in a hospital for Covid-19 patients in Iraq

A fire in a Baghdad hospital caring for coronavirus patients has killed at least 15 people, according to previous reports.

And local media claimed that the fire broke out on Saturday night due to the explosion of oxygen tanks.

Firefighters are fighting flames and transporting patients from Ibn Al-Khatib Hospital, which provides care for critically ill Coronavirus patients in the intensive care unit.

“I do not know the number of victims, because there are many burned bodies everywhere,” said Doctor Sabah Al-Kazaei from the scene of the fire.

The first reports indicate that there are at least 36 injured, with the exception of 15 dead, according to medical and security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, according to the rules. The Iraqi authorities did not provide an official death toll.

A hospital doctor said that at least 120 patients were in the hospital at the time of the fire.

Local media reported that the cause of the fire was at least one oxygen tank explosion inside the hospital. At least two doctors at the scene said they believed the oxygen tank caused the flames that extended to the second floor of the hospital.

Iraq is experiencing a dangerous wave of COVID-19 cases. Daily infection rates currently exceed 8,000 new cases, the highest number since the start of the epidemic in the country last year. The government has urged residents to get vaccinated, but the demand for vaccinations has been low due to a lack of confidence in the country’s health system and vaccines in particular.

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