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Seven hospital workers have been suspended in Pakistan after hundreds of patients were left without oxygen for hours — killing at least six, according to officials.

Patients’ relatives told the BBC how they begged for help as their loved ones gasped for air during the shortage that started late Saturday and affected at least 200 people at the government-run hospital in Peshawar.

Five patients in a coronavirus isolation ward died along with another in an intensive care unit, with others left in critical condition, the outlet said.

The tragic incident was initially blamed on a lack of supply, but a preliminary investigation blamed missing staff and the lack of backup plans, Agence France-Presse said.

The chronic oxygen deficiency “went unnoticed, unsupervised and unchecked,” the report said, with no backup oxygen supply in place. At least half of the 200 affected were coronavirus patients, the reports said.

The situation grew so dire that staff told despairing relatives to try to buy their own oxygen supplies, the BBC said.

The hospital director was among seven immediately suspended amid ongoing investigations, both reports said. Hospital officials described the shortage as “criminal negligence,” according to the BBC.

Pakistan has reported more than 420,000 cases of coronavirus, with almost 8,400 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Intensive care units in hospitals across the country are now almost full, with provincial governments struggling to deal with the soaring caseload, AFP said.