12 newborn babies die in hospital fire

– Twelve newborn babies were killed in a fire at a hospital in Baghdad 

– An adviser to the health ministry said there had been 20 babies inside the maternity unit when the fire started 

– Reports suggests that the fire was caused by an electricity failure  

Burnt incubators outside one of the entrances to the hospital on Wednesday

Twelve newborn babies on Wednesday, August 10, were killed in a fire at a hospital in Baghdad, Iraqi authorities said. 

According to Reuters, the prematurely born infants died at the Yarmouk maternity hospital after the inferno broke out overnight.

An adviser to the health ministry, Dr Amir al-Mukhtar, said there had been 20 babies inside the maternity unit when the fire started around midnight, adding that the inferno spread very quickly causing a lot of damage. 

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Ahmed al-Roudaini, the spokesman for the ministry said that the fire was probably caused by faulty electrical wiring. 

The hospital’s director, Saad Hatem Ahmed, told the news agency that 29 women and eight babies were taken from the ward and transferred to another hospital. 

Hussein Omar, 30, said he lost twins  a boy and a girl who were born last week  in the fire.