Daily Times

Pakistan extends heartfelt condolences to the government and brotherly people of Iraq on the loss of precious lives in the tragic incident of Ibn al-Khatib Hospital, Baghdad. In a tweet on Sunday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.” Iraq’s Interior Ministry said Sunday that 82 people died and 110 were injured in a catastrophic fire that broke out in the intensive care unit of a Baghdad hospital tending to severe coronavirus patients. Negligence on the part of hospital authorities has been blamed for the Saturday night fire, which initial reports suggest was caused when an oxygen cylinder exploded in the ward of Ibn al-Khatib hospital. Iraq’s prime minister fired key hospital officials hours after the catastrophic incident. Among the dead were at least 28 patients on ventilators battling severe symptoms of the virus, tweeted Ali al-Bayati, a spokesman of the country’s independent Human Rights Commission. The commission is a semi-official body.