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| Fire in Saudi Hospital’s Maternity Ward and I.C.U. Kills 25 | |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| LONDON — At least 25 people were killed Thursday morning when a fire tore through the maternity and neonatal intensive care unit at the general hospital in Jizan, a port city on the southwestern tip of Saudi Arabia. | LONDON — At least 25 people were killed Thursday morning when a fire tore through the maternity and neonatal intensive care unit at the general hospital in Jizan, a port city on the southwestern tip of Saudi Arabia. |
| Twenty-one ambulances and fire units were sent to the hospital after an emergency call at 2:10 a.m., according to a Facebook post by the Saudi Civil Defense Directorate, which attributed the information to Maj. Yahya bin Abdullah al-Qahtani, the agency’s spokesman in the area. | |
| The authorities were investigating the cause of the fire, which also injured at least 107 people, the agency said on Twitter. The Saudi News Agency later reported that 57 patients had been discharged from other hospitals, while another eight were in intensive care. | |
| A correspondent for the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television network reported having seen several emergency doors chained shut after the disaster, and said the hospital had previously received official warnings for safety violations, the network said on its website. | |
| A regional health official, Ahmed al-Sahli, denied any safety violations, but Eissa Amaish, the sister of one victim, told Al-Arabiya, “What happened in this hospital was a crime of murder. This hospital was not equipped at all to deal with a fire.” | |
| It was the third large-scale — and possibly avoidable — deadly disaster to hit Saudi Arabia in the past four months. At least 107 people were killed when a crane toppled at Mecca’s Grand Mosque in mid-September. A few weeks later hundreds of pilgrims were crushed in a stampede during the annual hajj. | It was the third large-scale — and possibly avoidable — deadly disaster to hit Saudi Arabia in the past four months. At least 107 people were killed when a crane toppled at Mecca’s Grand Mosque in mid-September. A few weeks later hundreds of pilgrims were crushed in a stampede during the annual hajj. |
| The tragedies have added to the challenges facing the government of the new king, Salman, who acceded to the throne in January after the death of his brother Abdullah. The kingdom is engaged in a fierce regional rivalry with Iran; faces spillover violence from the civil war in neighboring Yemen where it is carrying out airstrikes; and is dealing with plunging oil prices, which are the lifeblood of the kingdom’s income. | |
| Jizan, a city of 70,000 on the Red Sea that is just a few miles from the border with Yemen, was once a center of pearl fishing. | Jizan, a city of 70,000 on the Red Sea that is just a few miles from the border with Yemen, was once a center of pearl fishing. |
| The southwestern region is the only part of Saudi Arabia that receives enough rainfall to sustain crops. Farmers grow mangoes, papayas and cereals like wheat and barley, but the region remains quite poor. | |
| Saudi Aramco, the national oil company, is planning to build a major refinery and terminal for Jizan. On Tuesday, the Saudis said they had intercepted a missile fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen targeting an oil installation near Jizan. |