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The Iraqi Interior Ministry confirmed that 82 people were killed and 110 injured in a catastrophic fire that broke out in the intensive care unit of a Baghdad hospital that cares for patients with severe coronavirus. The negligence of the hospital authorities was blamed for the fire on Saturday evening, which, according to the first reports, was caused by the explosion of an oxygen cylinder in the hospital ward of Ibn al-Khatib. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi sacked key hospital officials hours after the incident. Among the dead were at least 28 patients with severe symptoms of the virus in ventilators, tweeted Ali al-Bayati, spokesperson for the country’s Independent Human Rights Commission, a semi-official body. Firefighters rushed to fight the blaze that ravaged the second floor of the hospital. Civil protection teams extinguished the flames until the wee hours of the morning. Ambulances transported dozens of wounded. The health ministry said at least 200 people had been rescued from the hospital. Eighty-two die when the Iraqi hospital that treated Covid patients was burned; the fire was caused by the explosion of an oxygen cylinder. The doctors present spoke of the chaos unfolding around them. They said several burned bodies were transported by paramedics from the hospital floor. Iraq is grappling with a second wave of a severe pandemic. The average daily virus cases are around 8,000, the highest since Iraq started showing infection rates early last year. At least 15,200 people have died from coronavirus in the country, out of a total of at least 100,000 confirmed cases. In response to the fire, Kadhimi sacked the director general of the Baghdad Health Department in the al-Rusafa area, where the hospital is located. He also fired hospital director Ibh al-Khatib and his director of engineering and maintenance, according to a statement from the health ministry and its office. After the fire broke out, Khadhimi held an emergency meeting at the headquarters of the Baghdad operations command, which coordinates Iraqi security forces, according to a statement posted on his Twitter account. “Negligence in such matters is not a mistake, but a crime for which all negligent parties must take responsibility,” he said. He gave the Iraqi authorities 24 hours to present the results of an investigation
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