Fire at Romania Covid ICU claims 10 lives

BUCHAREST, Nov 15 (AP): A fire at a hospital treating COVID-19 patients in northeastern Romania killed 10 people Saturday and injured 10 others, seven of them critically, officials said. Prosecutors quickly opened a criminal investigation.

The blaze spread through the intensive care ward designated for COVID-19 patients at the public hospital in the city of Piatra Neamt, local Emergency Situations Inspectorate spokesperson Irina Popa said. Most of the people who died or were injured in the blaze. were hospital patients, .

Health Minister Nelu Tataru told Romanian media the fire at Piatra Neamt Regional Emergency Hospital was "most likely triggered by a short circuit."

Romania's national prosecutor's office said it would investigate the blaze as a possible case of criminal manslaughter. The prosecutor who led the probe into a 2015 blaze that killed 64 people at an underground nightclub in Romania's capital, Bucharest, was assigned to lead the new investigation, the office said.

The fire at the Colective nightclub sparked massive protests that forced the Romanian government to relinquish office.