t least 23 people have died in a fire at a hospital treating coronavirus patients in Iraq.
Dozens of others were wounded in the blaze, which erupted at the Ibn Khatib hospital in the capital, Baghdad on Saturday night.
According to reports, an oxygen tank exploded, sparking the inferno.
The head of Iraq’s Civil Defence, Major General Kadhim Bohan, told state media the fire broke out in the hospital’s intensive-care unit, which included about “30 patients” a source told AFP.
So far, the emergency crew saved 90 out of 120 patients and relatives, state news agency INA quoted him as saying.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi called for an investigation into the causes of what he called a “tragic accident”.
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