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At least 10 dead and several injured after fire breaks out at Romanian Covid-19 hospital

  • The fire broke out in one room of the intensive care unit at the Piatra Neamt county hospital
  • The fire is the country’s most deadly since 2015, when a nightclub in Bucharest burned down and 65 people died

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Fire engines and ambulances are stationed outside the hospital in Piatra Neamt, northern Romania, where a fire broke out on Saturday. Photo: AP
Reuters

A fire killed 10 people on Saturday at a Romanian hospital treating coronavirus patients, the country’s agency for emergency situations (ISU) said.

The fire broke out in one room of the intensive care unit at the Piatra Neamt county hospital and spread to an adjoining room. It was unclear what triggered it, officials said.

Seven people were injured and in a critical condition, including the doctor on call, they said.

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Prosecutors said they would open an investigation to determine the cause of the fire, the country’s most deadly since 2015, when a nightclub in the capital Bucharest burned down and 65 people died.

That blaze triggered mass protests across Romania at the country’s culture of graft and lack of accountability.

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Romania, which has one of the European Union’s least developed health care infrastructures, has reported 353,185 coronavirus cases and 8,813 deaths.

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