Fire at wedding in Iraq, more than 260 people killed and injured

Fire kills at least 100 people attending wedding in Iraq, night of September 26, 2023. Source: 9News

Nineveh Deputy Governor Hassan al-Allaq told Reuters that 113 people had been confirmed dead so far. The fire is believed to have started at around 10:45 p.m. local time (19:45 GMT) on the evening of September 26.

Nineveh province, northern Iraq. Photo: The Guardian

Iraq’s official INA news agency reported early on September 27 that more than 150 people were also injured in a fire that engulfed an events hall in the province’s Hamdaniyah district, where a wedding was being held. Hamdaniyah district is located outside the northern city of Mosul, about 400km northwest of the capital Baghdad.

Iraq's civil defense agency said initial reports indicated that fireworks used at the wedding may have caused the fire.

“Preliminary information shows that fireworks were used at a wedding, causing a fire in the hall,” the agency said in a statement early on September 27.

Video footage from a Reuters reporter at the scene showed firefighters climbing through the charred rubble of the building in search of survivors.

Firefighters climb through rubble searching for survivors after a fire broke out at a wedding in Iraq on September 26, 2023. Photo: Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera's Mahmoud Abdelwahed, reporting from Baghdad, said fireworks are common at weddings in Iraq, and about 1,000 people were believed to have been at the event when the fire broke out.

The flammable materials used to build the event hall are also suspected to have contributed to the fire's ferocity, reporter Abdelwahed said.

Iraq's civil defense agency also noted that precast concrete structures found at the event hall were "highly flammable and contrary to safety standards."

“The fire caused parts of the ceiling to collapse due to the use of cheap, flammable building materials,” a statement from Iraq’s civil defense agency said.

According to official statements, ambulances and medical teams were dispatched by the federal government in Baghdad and the government of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region to the site of the deadly fire .

Minh Duc (According to Al Jazeera, Reuters)

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/chay-tai-dam-cuoi-o-iraq-hon-260-nguoi-thiet-mang-va-bi-thuong-a628391.html