2023-09-27 01:58:07
At least 114 people died and another 150 were injured by a fire during a wedding in a small party room city in northern Iraqreported state media citing health sources.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani ordered his government officials to “mobilize all efforts to provide aid to those affected by the unfortunate incident,” according to his office in a publication on X and reported by the BBC.
The medical services of the province of Nineveh “listed 100 dead and more than 150 injured in the fire in a wedding hall in Hamdaniya,” noted the official Iraqi press agency INA, clarifying that it was a “preliminary” balance.
Hours later, already in the early hours of Wednesday in Iraq, the deputy governor of Nineveh, Hasan al-Allaq, informed the Reuters agency that The number of fatalities already amounted to 113 people. The public health department of Nineveh province He later raised that figure to 114.
For its part, Al Jazeera reported that the Iraqi civil defense said that initial reports indicate that Fireworks used during the ceremony may have been the cause of the fire.
The fire occurred in the Hamdaniya area of Nineveh province, Iraqi authorities said. It is a predominantly Christian area located on the outskirts of the city of Mosul and 335 kilometers (205 miles) northwest of the capital Baghdad.
“All efforts are being made to provide assistance to those affected by this unfortunate accident,” Health Ministry spokesman Saif al-Badr said.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered an investigation into the fire and asked Interior and Health officials to provide necessary assistance, his office said in a statement posted online.
What was the fire at the wedding like and the desperation in a hospital in Iraq
The AFP agency reconstructed that at the local hospital, dozens of people gathered in the central patio, including relatives of the victims and volunteers, to give blood.
The crowd was also approaching the open doors of a refrigerated truck which carried several mortuary bags.
A truck with body bags at the hospital, after the fire at a wedding that left more than a hundred dead in Iraq. Photo Zaid Al-Obeidi / AFP
In a statement, the civil defense services reported the presence of “highly flammable and contrary to regulations security” in the party room where the catastrophe occurred.
“The fire caused the falling of certain parts of the roofdue to the use of highly flammable and inexpensive construction materials,” stated the same source.
During the rescue work, the same news agency reported, firefighters were trying to enter the devastated room. climbing over charred walls of the place.
The emergency operation at the tragic wedding in Iraq. Photo Zaid Al-Obeidi / AFP
According to official statements, the Iraqi federal authorities and the authorities of the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan sent ambulances and medical equipment to the place.
Eyewitnesses at the scene said the building caught fire around 10:45 p.m. local time and that hundreds of people were present at the time of the incident.
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