23 Killed In Fire At Iraq's COVID-19 Hospital: Officials

The explosion was caused by "a fault in the storage of oxygen cylinders", the medical sources said, adding that several dozen people had also been wounded.

At least 23 people died when a fire broke out in a coronavirus intensive care unit in Baghdad, medical and security sources told AFP. The explosion was caused by "a fault in the storage of oxygen cylinders", the medical sources said, adding that several dozen people had also been wounded. Videos on social media showed firefighters trying to extinguish flames at Ibn al-Khatib hospital on the southeastern outskirts of the Iraqi capital as patients and their relatives tried to flee the building. The civil defense told Iraqi state news they "rescued 90 people out of 120 patients and their relatives" at the scene, but would not give the exact number of dead and wounded.