Allegedly Due To Oxygen Cylinder Explosion, COVID-19 Hospital Burned, 42 People Killed Dozens More Injured

Explosion illustration. (Stephen Radford/Unsplash)

JAKARTA - At least 42 people have been killed and more than 60 injured in a fire possibly caused by an oxygen cylinder explosion at a coronavirus hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya, health and police officials said Monday, July 12.

As rescue teams combed the smoke-scorched building for more bodies, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi held an emergency meeting with ministers and top security commanders to discuss the tragedy, the prime minister's office said in a brief statement.

Despite being crushed by the pressures of war and sanctions, Iraq's health care system has struggled to cope with the coronavirus crisis, which has killed 17,592 people and infected more than 1.4 million.

"Health workers carried charred bodies out of the burning hospital, while many patients were coughing from the rising smoke," said a Reuters reporter at the scene of the fire.

Health officials in Nassiriya said search operations at the al-Hussain coronavirus hospital were continuing once the fire was brought under control, but thick smoke made it difficult to enter some of the burning wards.

"The raging fire has trapped many patients inside the coronavirus ward and rescue teams are struggling to reach them," a health worker said before entering the burning building.

Initial police reports suggest an oxygen cylinder explosion inside the hospital's COVID-19 ward was a possible cause of the fire, a police officer at the fire site said.

"I heard a big explosion inside the coronavirus ward and then the fire started very quickly," said Ali Muhsin, a hospital guard who helped carry injured patients away from the fire.

In April, a fire caused by an oxygen cylinder explosion at a COVID-19 hospital in Baghdad killed at least 82 people and injured 110 others.

Health sources said earlier the death toll from Monday's fire could rise as many patients were still missing. Two health workers were among the dead, they said.

Angry relatives gathered in front of the hospital and clashed with police, setting two police vehicles on fire, a Reuters witness said.

"Corrupt officials must be held responsible for the fire and the murder of innocent patients. Where is my father's body," said a young man as he searched through the charred bodies wrapped in blankets in the hospital grounds.