At least 12 newborn babies have been killed in a fire that broke out at the maternity unit of a hospital in Iraq’s capital Baghdad, said authorities on Wednesday.
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Ahmed al-Roudaini, a spokesman for the country’s health ministry, said initial findings of an investigation into the cause of the fire suggested an electrical short circuit was to blame.
At least 11 of the babies who perished in the blaze were premature, according to health officials.
Reuters news agency reported photos supposedly taken inside the Yarmouk Hospital showed cockroaches crawling out from between broken tiles, patients lying on stretchers in a courtyard, overflowing garbage bins and dirty toilets.
Devastated parents blamed the hospital and government for their babies’ deaths, with rumors flying that fire extinguishers were not working and that safety standards were not up-to-par.
The newborns are believed to have died of suffocation, said Ahmed al-Rdainy, a spokesman for the Iraqi Health Ministry.
When he couldn’t find them he return to Yarmouk only to be told to look for his babies at the morgue.
Shaima Hassan stood dazed and trembling in shock after losing her two-day-old son.
“I only found charred pieces of flesh”, he said, crying.
“Then someone broke a window and threw me out”, she added. “I just want our child, somebody give him to me”, she cried.
In many parts of the country, 13 years after the USA -led invasion, people still go without electricity and running water, and the schools and hospitals are dysfunctional.
‘I came early this morning to see my nephew and his mother, but they told me about the fire, ‘ she told the Associated Press.
Hussein Omar, 30, told the AP he lost twins – a boy and a girl who were born last week – in the fire. “My nephew is still missing and his mother was moved to another hospital ward”.
Electrical fires are common in Iraq because of shoddy maintenance and poor wiring, and a lack of fire escapes often adds to the danger.
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People directed their anger at the government for incompetent management of the country’s fraying infrastructure and its apparent inability to protect citizens.
