Iraq sandstorm leaves more than 3700 people with respiratory problems
"700 cases of suffocation"
More than 3700 people were sent to hospitals with respiratory problems on Monday as a sandstorm hit central and southern Iraq, health officials said.
Hospitals in Muthanna province in southern Iraq received at least "700 cases of suffocation," local health official Mazen al-Egeili told AFP.
More than 250 people were hospitalized in the central Najaf province and hundreds more in the provinces of Diwaniyah and Dhi Qar, other health officials reported.