A fire erupted Monday evening at a hospital in southern Iraq, sending smoke through a maternity ward and killing four babies who had been born prematurely, health officials confirmed.
The fire started at a pile of debris belonging to a construction company working on renovations at Women and Children’s Hospital in Diwaniyiah, Iraqi Health Minister Saleh al-Hasnawi told journalists at the scene.
The hospital building did not burn but it was filled with smoke, and the four infants died of chest problems as a result of smoke inhalation. Some other patients suffered minor injuries.
Iraq’s Red Crescent Society said in a statement that its teams successfully evacuated 150 children and 190 relatives from the hospital.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s office directed local authorities and the health ministry to open an investigation into the circumstances of the fire, the state-run Iraqi News Agency reported. Officials overseeing the hospital were suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.
