Several people were killed in a fire in the Covid ward of an Iraqi hospital

Nasiriyah: A health official said that a fire in the coronavirus isolation ward of an Iraqi hospital killed at least 36 people. This was the second deadly hellfire in a Covid-19 ward in three months.

According to an Agence France-Presse reporter, a fire broke out in the Hussein Hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah late on Monday and is still continuing.

Local health authority spokesperson Heydar Zamili told AFP that “the fire… burned down the Covid isolation ward” and 36 people died.

Five people were injured. “Two of them are in critical condition,” he added.

“The victim died of burns and the search is continuing,” Zamili said, noting that there are concerns that the victim may still be trapped in the building. The ward itself can accommodate 60 patients.

The Iraqi Ministry of Interior said on Facebook on Monday night that the fire destroyed the temporary building next to the main building, but did not specify the reason.

The deadly fire immediately triggered angry calls on social media for action and for senior officials to resign.

A medical source said late Monday that so far, 16 people have been rescued.

A video shared online shows the Al Hussein hospital billowing thick smoke.

In April, a fire broke out in the Covid-19 hospital in Baghdad. Due to the explosion of an improperly stored oxygen cylinder, 82 people were killed and 110 people were injured.

Many victims in the April fire were wearing respirators being treated for Covid-19 and were burned or suffocated in the resulting hell and quickly spread to the hospital, where dozens of relatives are visiting intensive care Patients in the ward.

The April fire sparked widespread anger, leading to the suspension and subsequent resignation of the then Minister of Health Hassan Tamimi.

Iraq—an oil-dependent economy that is still recovering from decades of war and insurgency, and many people living in poverty—has recorded more than 1.4 million COVID-19 cases and more than 17,000 deaths.

Most of the country’s health infrastructure is dilapidated, and investment in public services is restricted by local corruption.

Since the introduction of the vaccine in March, Iraq’s health authorities have only vaccinated about 1% of the country’s approximately 40 million people.

Among young Iraqi people, vaccine suspicion and indifference are particularly common, and 60% of the population in this country is under 25 years of age.

Earlier on Monday, a small fire broke out at the headquarters of the Ministry of Health in Baghdad, but it was quickly brought under control and caused no casualties.