Iraqis urged to stay indoors amid thick sandstorm

Hundreds of Iraqis rushed to hospitals with breathing problems Saturday as a thick sandstorm blanketed the country, the sixth to engulf Iraq within a month.

The Iraqi Meteorological Authority said the sandstorm would continue until Monday morning and authorities urged citizens to stay indoors.

Iraq is prone to seasonal sandstorms, but experts and officials are raising alarm over their frequency in recent years, which they say is exacerbated by record-low rainfall, desertification, and climate change. Temperatures fell on Saturday to 25 degrees Celsius.