Blaze at COVID-19 field hospital kills 14

SKOPJE (AP):

North Macedonia’s government declared three days of mourning Thursday following a deadly overnight fire in a COVID-19 field hospital that killed 14 people and injured a dozen.

The blaze broke out late Wednesday in the western city of Tetovo, where the unit had been set up following a recent spike in infections in the region that left local hospitals full.

Health Minister Venko Filipce said it was not yet clear whether all the 14 dead were COVID-19 patients or whether some visiting relatives might have been among them.

“We will run DNA tests on the victims which will confirm whether there were members of the families,” Filipce said.

“It is difficult to express in words the pain that I feel for the lost lives and the loss of their families,” he told a press conference Thursday evening.

Another 12 people were injured, and were transferred to the main hospital of Tetovo, where they were in stable condition, the minister said.

Addressing public pressure to resign in the wake of the blaze, Filipce said he would decide whether to do so after the investigation into the incident is completed.

The minister insisted that the 19 field hospitals set up across the country over the past year to deal with the pandemic were built to the specifications and standards laid out by the World Bank, which financed their construction through a loan.

“It is a tragedy that I can’t even explain,” said local resident Idriz Brahimi. “Those were sick people who couldn’t get out. It is a huge catastrophe.”

Fires in COVID-19 hospitals or wards have cost dozens of lives in other countries.