Ukraine sees 2nd fatal oxygen blast at hospital this month

KYIV, Ukraine – An explosion in a Ukrainian hospital ward where COVID-19 patients are being treated has killed one person and injured another, authorities said Saturday.

The national emergencies service said in a statement that the explosion occurred in an oxygen pipe. It said 20 people were evacuated after the blast at the hospital in Chernivtsi, a city about 400 kilometres (250 miles) southwest of Kyiv.

Saturday’s explosion was the second fatal oxygen explosion at a hospital in Ukraine this month. Three COVID-19 patients and a young doctor died when an explosion caused a fire at a hospital in Zaporizhzhia during the first week of February.

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