A fire swept through a COVID
hospital ward in Iraq overnight.
The state news agency says
92 people were killed in Nasiriyah,
with more than 100 injured.
Nick Schifrin reports.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Today, all that's
left of the hospital built to
keep people alive is a site
of mass death. Dozens of families
lost loved ones. Their caskets
became a solemn procession.
Iraqi officials say the fire
likely started when faulty
wiring sparked and an oxygen tank
exploded. Firefighters tried
to put out the blaze using
cell phone flashlights because
there was no electricity. They
were too late, the bodies lined
up, row after row, and the
grief unspeakable.
MAN (through translator): The catastrophe
that occurred tonight in Hussein Hospital,
the quarantine hospital, is a tragedy for
which there are no words.
NICK SCHIFRIN: But the
tears are tainted with fury.
HAIDAR AL-ASKAR, Resident of
Nasiriyah (through translator):
The whole state has collapsed,
and who has paid the price?
The people inside here. These
people have paid the price.
NICK SCHIFRIN: For years, Iraq's
health care system has suffered
corruption and mismanagement.
A medic said the hospital lacked
basic safety measures like
a sprinkler system and fire
extinguisher, and the construction was
shoddy, with flammable, thin materials.
In April, another 82 people
died in a hospital in Baghdad
after an oxygen tank exploded.
ALI RAIF, Resident of Nasiriyah
(through translator): We have
become scared to go to hospitals.
Why? Because of their
corruption and tyranny.
NICK SCHIFRIN: And a COVID surge
is straining a weak system. Only
2.5 percent of the population
is vaccinated.
Iraq's government launched an
investigation and arrested hospital
and local health officials.
But it's little solace for relatives, who
say this tragedy was preventable.
For the "PBS NewsHour,
" I'm Nick Schifrin.