Rescuers comb Iraqi hospital as dozens killed in COVID ward fire

Fire likely caused by an oxygen tank explosion at a hospital’s COVID ward in Nasiriya kills at least 52 people.

At least 52 people have been killed in a fire likely caused by an oxygen tank explosion in the COVID ward at a hospital in Iraq’s southern city of Nasiriya. As rescuers combed the smoke-charred building in search of more bodies, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi held urgent meetings with senior ministers and ordered the suspension and arrest of health and civil defence managers in Nasiriya, his office said in a statement. The manager of the hospital was also suspended and ordered to be arrested, the statement added.