Iraq’s Ministry of Health: the death toll in Imam Hussein teaching Hospital fire rises to 60 victims

Shafaq News/ Iraq’s Ministry of Health and Environment announced on Wednesday that the death toll in Imam Hussein teaching Hospital fire rises to 60 victims.

The Ministry said in a statement, that “after completing the official procedures in Dhi Qar Governorate, the total number of victims of the Imam Hussein Hospital incident reached 60 victims in which 21 are still unidentified.

On Tuesday, an official government source in the Dhi Qar Governorate Office revealed to Shafaq News Agency that "the number of victims has reached 100 martyrs, in addition to 26 are still missing," expecting that they have died.

The source added, "We have many human bones, and we receive requests from families about the loss of their children."

An investigation showed the fire began at the COVID  Hospital when sparks from faulty wiring spread to an oxygen tank that then exploded, police and civil defence authorities said. 

It was Iraq's second such tragedy in three months, and the country's president on Tuesday blamed corruption for both. A statement from the prime minister's office called for national mourning.

In April, a similar explosion at a Baghdad COVID-19 hospital killed at least 82 and injured 110.