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world news Diaranson 14 Juli 2021

Death toll rises to 92 in blaze at coronavirus ward in Iraq

(AP) — The death toll U.S.-led invasion in 2003
from a fire that swept have given rise to “toxic” dis-
through a hospital coro- trust between patients and
navirus ward climbed to doctors.
92 on Tuesday, Iraq’s state
news agency reported, as Doctors in COVID-19 wards
anguished relatives bur- often say they avoid con-
ied their loved ones and fronting patients’ families
lashed out at the govern- who are mishandling oxy-
ment over the country’s gen tanks, for fear they will
second such disaster in react violently, he said. “But
less than three months. families say that they have le-
gitimate fears about leaving
Health officials said scores the lives of their vulnerable
of others were injured in the loved ones up to medical staff
blaze that erupted Monday at that they regard as under-re-
al-Hussein Teaching Hospi- sourced, overburdened and
tal in Nasiriyah. disinterested.”

The tragedy cast a spotlight Iraq is in the midst of anoth-
on what many have decried er severe COVID-19 surge.
as widespread negligence and New cases per day peaked
mismanagement in Iraq’s last week at 9,000. Iraq’s war-
hospitals after decades of war crippled health system has
and sanctions. struggled to contain the vi-
The officials were not autho- rus. The country has record-
Prime Minister Mustafa al- rized to talk to the news me- ed over 17,000 deaths and 1.4
Kadhimi convened an emer- dia and spoke on condition of million confirmed cases.
gency meeting and ordered anonymity.
the suspension and arrest of Fear and widespread mistrust
the health director in Dhi In April, at least 82 people of the public health sector
Qar provice, the hospital di- — many of them coronavi- have kept many from seeking
rector and the city’s civil de- rus patients or their relatives hospital care.
fense chief. The government — were killed in a fire at a
also launched an investiga- Baghdad hospital that broke Ali Abbas Salman, who
tion. out when an oxygen tank ex- rushed to evacuate his CO-
ploded. Iraq’s health minister VID-19-stricken father from
The prime minister called resigned over the disaster. the building after the fire
the catastrophe “a deep broke out, swore he wouldn’t
wound in the consciousness In the holy city of Najaf, the nessed the blaze, said it began The ward, opened three take the older man back to a
of all Iraqis.” dead from Nasiriyah were with smoke. “But everyone months ago, contained 70 hospital.
laid to rest. Mourning fami- ran away — the workers and beds in three large halls. Maj.
Two Iraqi health officials, lies stood over the coffins at a even the police. A few min- Gen. Khalid Bohan, head of “He wants me to take him
speaking on condition of an- mosque to say one last prayer. utes later there was an explo- Iraq’s civil defense, said the home. He said, `It’s better to
onymity in line with regula- sion,” he said. He said fire- building was constructed die of coronavirus than being
tions, disputed the reported Their tears were tinged with fighters arrived an hour later. from cheap, flammable ma- burned alive,’” Salman said.
death toll, saying 88 had been anger, with some saying the terials.
killed. disaster could have been pre- “The whole state system has The disaster is likely to stoke
vented. They blamed both collapsed, and who paid the Ali Karar, a cleaner at the public discontent toward
Authorities at one point said the provincial government price? The people inside hospital, said the ward had Iraq’s political establishment
the fire was caused by a short and the central government here. These people have paid only four fire extinguishers ahead of October elections,
circuit. Another official said in Baghdad. the price,” Haidar al-Askari and no fire alarm system. said Marsin Alshammary, an
the blaze erupted when an seethed at the scene. Firetrucks ran out of water Iraq specialist at the Brook-
oxygen cylinder exploded. Ahmed Resan, who wit- quickly, he said. ings Institution. Nasiriyah
Overnight, firefighters and has been at the heart of past
rescuers — many holding Doctors have long com- revolutions in Iraq.
5 killed in crane collapse at flashlights and using blan- plained of lax safety at Iraq’s “Given this entire atmo-
kets to smother small fires hospitals, especially around
residential tower in Canada — searched through the oxygen cylinders, and have sphere built around the city,”
ward. As dawn broke, bodies described the institutions as
she said, “you can imagine
covered with sheets could be ticking bombs. that something as tragic as
(AP) — Five people died rubble, MacIntosh said. seen laid out on the ground this event, where people who
when a crane toppled off The upper portion of the outside the hospital. Dis- Mac Skelton, a medical soci- were already vulnerable were
a 25-story residential tow- crane smashed into a neigh- traught relatives searched ologist focused on Iraq, said killed in a needless accident,
er in Canada, police said boring building. for traces of their loved ones chaos and neglect in Iraq’s will create more public an-
Tuesday. amid charred blankets and public hospitals since the ger.”
Jonathan Friesen, head of the belongings.
Four construction workers Mission Group, the devel-
on the ground were killed opment company building Ali Khalid, 20, a volunteer
in the accident Monday in the structure, said he doesn’t who dashed to the scene, said
Kelowna, 241 miles (390 ki- know what caused the crane he found the bodies of two
lometers) east of Vancouver, to fall. young girls locked in em-
police Insp. Adam MacIn- brace.
tosh said. The collapse knocked out
power for most of the city’s “How terrified they must
The crane operator hasn’t downtown core and forced have been, they died hugging
been found but police be- an evacuation of the sur- each other,” he said.
lieve his body is buried in the rounding area.