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A fire swept through a COVID
hospital ward in Iraq overnight.
The state news agency says

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92 people were killed in Nasiriyah,
with more than 100 injured.

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Nick Schifrin reports.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: Today, all that's
left of the hospital built to
keep people alive is a site

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of mass death. Dozens of families
lost loved ones. Their caskets
became a solemn procession.

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Iraqi officials say the fire
likely started when faulty
wiring sparked and an oxygen tank

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exploded. Firefighters tried
to put out the blaze using
cell phone flashlights because

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there was no electricity. They
were too late, the bodies lined
up, row after row, and the

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grief unspeakable.

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MAN (through translator): The catastrophe
that occurred tonight in Hussein Hospital,

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the quarantine hospital, is a tragedy for
which there are no words.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: But the
tears are tainted with fury.

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HAIDAR AL-ASKAR, Resident of
Nasiriyah (through translator):
The whole state has collapsed,

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and who has paid the price?
The people inside here. These
people have paid the price.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: For years, Iraq's
health care system has suffered
corruption and mismanagement.

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A medic said the hospital lacked
basic safety measures like
a sprinkler system and fire

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extinguisher, and the construction was
shoddy, with flammable, thin materials.

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In April, another 82 people
died in a hospital in Baghdad
after an oxygen tank exploded.

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ALI RAIF, Resident of Nasiriyah
(through translator): We have
become scared to go to hospitals.

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Why? Because of their
corruption and tyranny.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: And a COVID surge
is straining a weak system. Only
2.5 percent of the population

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is vaccinated.

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Iraq's government launched an
investigation and arrested hospital
and local health officials.

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But it's little solace for relatives, who
say this tragedy was preventable.

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For the "PBS NewsHour,
" I'm Nick Schifrin.