4 children died in hospital fire in southern Iraq
Firefighters trying to contain the fire that broke out in a maternity hospital in Diwaniyah governorate in southern Iraq. Photo: Social media
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Minister of Health, Saleh Al-Hasnawi, announced on Monday evening the formation of committees to investigate the causes of the fire at the maternity hospital in Diwaniyah governorate, where four children died.
“Based on the Prime Minister’s directives, we went to the hospital in Diwaniyah, where a fire broke out, and met with the employees and the operating company and heard their testimonies,” Al-Hasnawi told the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
In a press release, the Iraqi Red Cross stated that 190 people and 150 children had been evacuated from the fire in the city of Diwaniyah, about 175 kilometers south of Baghdad.
Al-Hasnawi said in a press conference held after firefighters had put out the flames that wastepaper and materials belonging to a company renovating the hospital were ignited by an electrical short-circuit that sparked the fire.
“The fire itself was not inside the hospital; only smoke entered,” the Iraqi Health Minister elaborated.
The Iraqi official added that respiratory problems claimed the lives of four prematurely born infants in the neonatal intensive care unit.