Overnight hospital fire in Saudi kills 25, injures over 100
Short circuit ignited blaze in intensive care, maternity units; public blames government neglect of poor districts
A fire ripped through a hospital in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, killing at least 25 people and injuring 107, the authorities said.
The blaze broke out in the intensive care unit and the maternity department of the Jazan General Hospital in the kingdom’s south, the civil defense agency said on Twitter.
It said in an update later that the fire had been extinguished and an investigation was under way into the cause.
Twenty-one civil defense teams had assisted in putting out the blaze, it added. There was no immediate breakdown of the victims available.
Alriyadh daily quoted Saudi Civil Defense spokesman Maj. Yahya bin Abdullah al-Qahtani as saying that the agency was alerted of the fire at 2:00 a.m. (2300 GMT Wednesday). He said the cause of the blaze remains unknown.
The kingdom has suffered a number of large-scale accidents this year, namely a crane collapse that killed 111 and a stampede that killed at least 2,400 during the hajj pilgrimage in September, according to an Associated Press count.
In August, 10 people were killed and 259 wounded in a fire at a residential complex rented by oil giant Saudi Aramco in the kingdom’s Eastern Province. That fire was ignited by an electric short circuit in the underground car park, according to the authorities.
Thursday’s fire sparked a wave of criticism among social media users who complained that Jazan province, especially its hospitals, suffers from inadequate infrastructure.
“We must be frank. Jazan had been neglected by the state” for decades, wrote a Twitter user named Ahmed.
“Maybe this catastrophe could put the spotlight on the disastrous situation of hospitals in Jazan. Even though we have little hope” for this, wrote another user.
Others called for health minister Khalid al-Falih to be sacked.
Civilians in Jazan have also been victims of frequent missile attacks by Iran-backed rebels in neighboring Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Shiite Houthi insurgents and their allies since March.
[mappress mapid=”5489″]
