Iraq: death toll from COVID-19 hospital’s fire rises to 58

Death toll from the a fire likely caused by an oxygen tank explosion at a coronavirus hospital in Iraq’s southern city of Nassiriya has risen to 58,  health officials and police said on Monday.

According to the media, the number of victims could rise, and the victims continue to be evacuated.

The Dhi Qar Health Directorate in Iraq declared a state of emergency after a fire broke at a hospital dedicated to Coronavirus infections, state media reported.

“A number of  COVID-19 patients are still trapped inside after the fire broke out at the hospital,” the Iraqi newspaper Al-Furat reported.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi held urgent meetings with senior ministers and ordered the suspension and arrest of health and civil defense managers in Nassiriya, his office said in a statement.

E.M