At least 31 die in blaze at Saudi hospital
Print Edition
A FIRE at a hospital in a southwestern province of Saudi Arabia killed at least 31 people and injured over 100, the Saudi government said yesterday.
The blaze broke out in the early hours yesterday around the hospital’s intensive care, maternity and neonatal care wards in the port city of Jizan in the province by the same name. It is not yet known what caused it, said a Saudi Civil Defense spokesman.
There was no immediate breakdown of the victims or further details available.
Later in the day, the kingdom’s health ministry put the death toll at 25, saying 123 people had been injured. The discrepancy could not immediately be reconciled but it is not unusual in the aftermath of large disasters.
The health ministry said in a statement that the injured were transferred to hospitals nearby, and that an investigation is underway to find out how the fire started.
All babies in incubators had been rescued, the ministry said.
The kingdom has suffered a number of large-scale accidents this year, including a crane collapse in Mecca that killed 111 people and a stampede that killed at least 2,411 during the hajj pilgrimage in September, according to an Associated Press count.
The AP figure of the hajj disaster death toll, which is three times higher than the number of deaths acknowledged by the kingdom, establishes the September 24 stampede at Mina as the deadliest incident in the history of the annual pilgrimage. It is based on state media reports and officials’ comments from 36 of the over 180 countries that sent citizens to the hajj. Hundreds of people remain missing.
The kingdom has also been struggling with multiple pressures, most prominently low oil prices that are straining its budget. It is also dealing with a war in neighboring Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition of mostly Arab, US-backed nations carrying out an airstrikes campaign and offensive against the Yemeni Shiite rebels’ power grab.
In Syria, Saudi supports Sunni rebels fighting against President Bashar Assad’s government.
On Wednesday, King Salman outlined his domestic and foreign policies in a speech before the advisory Shura Council, pledging that security and economic development would remain the country’s top priorities for the coming year even as low oil prices keep decreasing the kingdom’s revenue.
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