A fire that tore through a hospital in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad has killed twelve premature babies. The fire erupted in Yarmouk hospital, in the maternity unit and took almost three hours to be put out.
The fire is thought to be down an electrical fault. Electrical fires are common in Iraq due to faulty wiring and poor maintenance issues. Jassem Lateef al-Karkh told the AFP news agency that the hospital was old and lacking in proper fire equipment.
Twenty-nine women were transferred from the damaged unit and moved to other hospitals as well as eight children. According to a health ministry source, nineteen people required treatment for burns and smoke inhalation.
Charred incubation units were seen left outside the building.
One of the mothers who lost her baby, Shaimaa Hassan told the Associated Press “I waited for ages to have this baby and when I finally had him, it took only a second to lose him.
“People started screaming ‘fire, fire’ and running…Then someone broke a window and threw me out.”
