BAGHDAD — A fireplace erupted Monday night at a hospital in southern Iraq, sending smoke via a maternity ward and killing 4 infants who had been born prematurely, well being officers mentioned.
The fireplace began at a pile of particles belonging to a building firm engaged on renovations at Ladies and Kids’s Hospital in Diwaniyiah, Iraqi Well being Minister Saleh al-Hasnawi advised journalists on the scene.
The hospital constructing didn’t burn however it was full of smoke, and the 4 infants died of chest issues because of smoke inhalation, Al-Hasnawi mentioned. Another sufferers suffered minor accidents.
Iraq’s Pink Crescent Society mentioned in an announcement that its groups efficiently evacuated 150 kids and 190 kin from the hospital. The Pink Crescent mentioned the hearth may need been triggered by {an electrical} downside.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s workplace directed native authorities and the well being ministry to open an investigation into the circumstances of the hearth, the state-run Iraqi Information Company reported. Officers overseeing the hospital have been suspended pending the result of the investigation.
Electrical fires, typically as a consequence of insufficient upkeep and substandard wiring, pose a recurrent risk in Iraq, with the absence of correct fireplace escapes additional compounding the chance. Development corporations and suppliers of constructing supplies typically neglect security requirements, contributing to the hazards.
In 2016, a fireplace ripped via a maternity ward at a Baghdad hospital in a single day, killing 12 new child infants.
Extra just lately, in September, greater than 100 folks died in a blaze ignited by fireworks throughout a marriage ceremony within the northern Iraqi city of Qaraqosh.
——-
Related Press workers author Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.