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Sandstorm in Iraq leaves thousands hospitalised

 
Correction — May 13, 2025
 
The last two paragraphs were substantially a copyright violation, and have been rephrased while retaining their meaning.
 

Sunday, April 20, 2025

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On Monday, April 14, 2025, over 3,500 people in Iraq had been hospitalised with respiratory problems due to a severe sandstorm, the biggest of the year so far. It blanketed the skies with what was described as a "thick orange haze", reducing visibility to only hundreds of metres, and in some cases, even fewer.

The authorities closed airports in the Najaf and Basra provinces.

Conditions were expected to gradually improve on Tuesday, according to forecasts from local weather services.

Sandstorm in Iraq on 14th of April, 2025; satellite/aerial view. Published by NASA Earth Observatory.

UN has listed Iraq as one of the five countries most at risk from climate change, which was allegedly causing recurring sandstorms, extremely high temperatures and shortage of water in the country.

The last significantly severe sandstorm in Iraq was in 2022, leading to the death of one person and needing to treat over 5,000 for respiratory issues.

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  This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
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