Iraq's Ministry of Health has said that ”621 cases of respiratory problems have been registered after the chlorine gas leak in Karbala”.
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More than 600 pilgrims in Iraq have been hospitalized for respiratory problems after inhaling chlorine as a result of a leak at a water treatment plant, officials said Sunday.
The incident took place overnight on the route between Najaf and Karbala, two Shiite holy cities located in central and southern Iraq. This year, millions of Shia Muslim pilgrims are expected to visit Karbala. There are shrines of the venerable Imam Hussain and his brother Abbas. There they will celebrate 40 days of mourning. In this, the Shias commemorate the death of Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad.
In a brief statement, Iraq's Ministry of Health said that "six hundred and twenty-one cases of respiratory problems have been registered after the chlorine gas leak in Karbala." "All have received the necessary care and have been discharged from the hospital in good health," the statement said.
Meanwhile, the security forces responsible for the safety of the pilgrims said that the incident was a 'chlorine leak from the water center on the Karbala-Najaf road'. Due to decades of conflict and corruption, most of Iraq's infrastructure is in a dilapidated state. Compliance with safety standards is often lax.
In July, more than 60 people died in a major fire in a shopping mall in the eastern city of Kut. Officials said that many of them died of suffocation in the toilet.
