At least nine COVID-19 patients died when fire broke out at a hospital in the Romanian port city of Constanta.
All the nine victims were in the intensive care unit of Constanta’s Hospital for Infectious Diseases, said Constantin Amarandei, head of the city’s emergency inspectorate.
It said the fire had now been extinguished and all patients evacuated.
At the time of the blaze, there were 113 people at the hospital, 10 in intensive care.
We don’t know the causes of the fire at the moment, Health Minister Attila Cseke said.
However, the police has opened an investigation into the incident.
President Klaus Iohannis mourned the nine victims in a statement Friday.
The Romanian state “has failed in its fundamental mission to protect its citizens”, he said.
“I am horrified by the tragedy that took place this morning at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Constanta,” he further said.
“It is a terrible new drama that confirms the deficient infrastructure of the Romanian health system.”
He went on saying that Romania’s “outdated” health care system is under an “unimaginable pressure” by the pandemic.
The incident is the third of its kind in less than a year.
Gathered outside the hospital, relatives of the nine victims accused the authorities of “incompetence”.
“History is repeating itself. They did nothing to improve the conditions in the hospitals,” said one woman, claiming that her mother died in the fire.
However, the director of the hospital said that they corrected several deficiencies identified in January during an inspection of the electrical and heating installations.
