113 dead, 150 injured in Iraq wedding hall inferno

Published: 06:58 PM, 27 Sep, 2023
World
113 dead, 150 injured in Iraq wedding hall inferno
AFP

More than 110 people were killed and 150 injured in a fire at a wedding party in Hamdaniya district in Iraq's Nineveh province that left civil defence searching the charred skeleton of a building for survivors into the early hours of Wednesday.

Nineveh Deputy Governor Hassan al-Allaq told newsmen that 113 people had been confirmed dead, with state media putting the death toll to at least 100, with 150 people injured.

Bride and groom were reported to be among the deceased, local media reports said.

The fire ripped through a large events hall in the north-eastern region after fireworks were lit during the celebration, local civil defence said, according to state media.

"We saw the fire pulsating, coming out of the hall. Those who managed got out and those who didn't got stuck. Even those who made their way out were broken," said Imad Yohana, a 34-year-old who escaped the inferno.

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Video from a Reuters correspondent at the site showed firefighters clambering over the charred wreckage of the building, shining lights over smouldering ruins.

Preliminary information indicated that the building was made of highly flammable construction materials, contributing to its rapid collapse, state media said.

Ambulances and medical crews were dispatched to the site by federal Iraqi authorities and Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, according to official statements.

Eyewitnesses at the site said the building caught fire at around 10:45 pm local time (1945 GMT) and that hundreds of people were in attendance at the time of the incident.

Najim al-Jubouri, the provincial governor of Nineveh, cautioned early on Wednesday that there were no final casualty figures yet from the blaze, which suggests the death toll still may rise. “All efforts are being made to provide relief to those affected by the unfortunate accident,” Iraq’s Health Ministry spokesman Saif al-Badr said.

Iraq’s official INA news agency reported earlier that more than 150 people were also injured in the blaze, which engulfed an event hall in the province’s Hamdaniyah district where the wedding celebration was taking place.

Hamdaniyah is located outside of the northern city of Mosul, some 400km (around 250 miles) northwest of the capital Baghdad.

Iraq’s civil defence also reported the presence of prefabricated panels at the event hall that were “highly flammable and contravened safety standards”. “The fire caused some parts of the ceiling to fall due to the use of highly flammable, low-cost construction materials,” civil defence authorities said in their statement.
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Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered an investigation into the fire and asked the country’s Interior and Health officials to provide relief, his office said in a statement online.

Video clips posted on social media and purportedly taken in the moments before the fire takes hold showed burning pieces of panelling falling from the ceiling of the event hall. Wedding guests are also seen jumping up from tables and attempting to flee to safety.

Iraq’s ministry of health said that “medical aid trucks” have been dispatched to Nineveh from Baghdad and other provinces.

 

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AFP

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