The fire in the maternity ward of Yarmuk Hospital was started by an electrical fault
Baghdad: A fire tore through the maternity ward of one of Baghdad’s largest hospitals yesterday, killing at least 12 premature babies, medical officials said.
Burnt incubators stand outside Yarmuk hospital in west Baghdad after an overnight fire tore through the maternity ward. Pic/AFP
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Jassem Lateef al-Karkh, from the Baghdad health directorate, told reporters only seven babies could be saved and were taken to another ward in the capital.
Health ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Rudeini said the blaze at the Yarmuk Hospital in west Baghdad was started by an electrical fault just after midnight. “Twenty-nine women patients who were in the same ward were evacuated to other hospitals,” he said.
Security services sealed off the area as forensic teams searched the gutted ward and angry relatives amassed outside, waiting for information. Charred incubators could be seen outside one of the entrances to the hospital.
Umm Ahmed came to Yarmuk on Tuesday when a close relative gave birth. The baby died in the inferno and the mother suffered burns, she said. “I am looking for our child, they told me ‘Go find him in the fridge’,” said the middle-aged woman.
An official at Iraq’s interior ministry confirmed the death toll from the fire, adding that three other babies were being treated for smoke inhalation.
Many of Baghdad’s public hospitals are poorly maintained and offer sub-standard health care, forcing a number of Iraqis to seek private treatment or travel abroad.
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