ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – At least 24 newborn babies have died in a fire that broke out at a Baghdad hospital Wednesday morning, Iraqi health officials reported.
“After a fire broke out at one of the maternity wards at the Yarmouk Hospital in Baghdad, an Oxygen capsule detonated at the ward, as a result the babies got burned and died,” said the Iraqi health ministry in a statement.
At least seven other children and 29 women were rescued and transferred to another hospital.
The statement added that the fire was immediately brought under control.
A security official revealed the fire “might have started due to electrical failures.”
Yarmouk Hospital, located in the capital’s southwest, is the second largest in the city.
