SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The death toll from a fire caused by an oxygen tank explosion at a coronavirus hospital in Baghdad may kill 130 people, Iraq’s commission for human rights said on Monday.
The fire erupted at Ibn Khatib hospital in the Diyala Bridge area in Baghdad on Saturday. The Iraqi interior ministry said 82 people died and 110 others wounded in the fire.
In a statement, the Iraqi independent high commission for human rights blamed hospital officials for not adhering to the ministry of health instructions to limit the number of visitors to the hospital, which was already overcrowded with coronavirus patients.
“The approximate number of deaths, according to the testimonies obtained by the IHCHR team, may reach 130, including unidentified badly charred bodies,” the commission stated.
The hospital lacked an early-warning system for fire, in addition to the obvious failure of the hospital administration to rapidly rescue the patients, the statement read.
Following the incident, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi blamed negligence and suspended the health minister, Baghdad governor and general director of health in Rasafa pending an inquiry into Saturday’s blaze at the Ibn Khatib hospital.
He also ordered investigations into the incident and called for results of investigations to be available within five days.
Iraq’s civil defence first-responder services said they had previously warned authorities of the fire risk at the hospital, according to Reuters.
“We officially informed the hospital management and the health directorate that there were safety violations but never got a response,” said Brigadier General Jawdat Abdul Rahman, a spokesman for the civil defence.
“A fire sprinkler system was not available, and there was no working fire detection system,” he said. “Otherwise the fire could have been controlled in a shorter time and there would be fewer casualties.”
