Iraq’s prime minister sacks key hospital officials after 82 killed in blaze

First responders at the scene of the hospital fire in Baghdad (AP)

Iraq’s Interior Ministry said on Sunday that 82 people died and 110 others were injured in a catastrophic fire that broke out in the intensive care unit of a Baghdad hospital which was treating seriously ill coronavirus patients.

Negligence on the part of hospital authorities has been blamed for Saturday night’s blaze, which initial reports suggested was caused when an oxygen cylinder exploded in a ward at the Ibn al-Khatib hospital.