(CNN) A fire tore through a wedding hall in Qaraqosh in northern Iraq on Tuesday, killing at least 100 people and injuring 150 others, prompting<a class="excerpt-read-more" href="https://whdh.com/news/wedding-became-a-graveyard-at-least-100-killed-as-fire-rips-through-party-in-iraq/">Read More</a>
Oxygen tank blast at hospital kills 82 in Iraq Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi ordered an investigation Reuters | Baghdad | Published 26.04.21, 01:45 AM
A fire sparked by an oxygen tank explosion killed at least 82 people and injured 110 at a hospital in Baghdad that had been equipped to house Covid-19 patients, an interior ministry spokesman said on Sunday.
“We urgently need to review safety measures at all hospitals to prevent such a painful incident from happening in future,” spokesman Khalid al-Muhanna told state television, announcing the toll.
The fire erupted on Saturday at the Ibn Khatib hospital in the Diyala Bridge area.
Ali Bayati, a member of Iraq’s semi-official High Commission for Human Rights, had earlier said a fi
Reuters Reuters
26 April, 2021, 1:08 pm
People gather outside Ibn Khatib hospital where a fire was sparked by an oxygen tank explosion, in Baghdad, Iraq, April 25, 2021. REUTERS/Saba Kareem
BAGHDAD (Reuters) -A fire caused by an oxygen tank explosion at a COVID-19 hospital in Baghdad took at least 82 lives and forced some people to leap through windows out of the burning building, witnesses and authorities said on Sunday.
As rescuers combed the smoke-charred building, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi blamed negligence and suspended his Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi pending an inquiry into Saturday’s blaze at the Ibn Khatib hospital.
Some 110 people were also injured, Interior Ministry spokesman Khalid al-Muhanna said. Most of the dead and injured were patients.
A fire sparked by an oxygen tank explosion killed at least 82 people and injured 110 at a hospital in Baghdad that had been equipped to house COVID-19 patients, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on Sunday.
âWe urgently need to review safety measures at all hospitals to prevent such a painful incident from happening in future,â spokesman Khalid al-Muhanna told state television, announcing the toll.
The fire erupted on Saturday at the Ibn Khatib hospital in the Diyala Bridge area.
Ali Bayati, a member of Iraqâs semi-official High Commission for Human Rights, had said earlier a final death toll had not yet been officially announced but it could be between 30 to 45.