BAGHDAD: As many as 41 people were killed and several others wounded in a massive fire that broke out in a hospital treating Covid-19 patients in Iraq's southern province of Dhi Qar, official media reported on Tuesday.

According to reports, the fire erupted on Monday evening at the quarantine centre for Covid patients in al-Hussein Hospital in the provincial capital city of al-Nasiriyah, some 375 km south of Baghdad.  Firefighters and civil defence teams were trying to evacuate patients and health workers while trying to put out the blaze, the reports added. Following the tragedy, Dhi Qar's health department declared a state of emergency after the fire, as per reports.

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi held an emergency meeting with some cabinet ministers and security commanders to discuss the hospital fire and its consequences. Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi tweeted that the session on Tuesday will discuss the incident. Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi resigned after that fire.

In April, an exploding oxygen tank started a fire that killed at least 82 people at a hospital in the capital Baghdad.

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