IRAQ: A fire broke out in an Iraqi wedding hall, killing at least 114 guests. There are fears that the bride and groom may be among the dead. Fireworks caused the fire, which occurred in the Al-Hamdaniya area of the northern Nineveh province, a Christian wedding venue in Mosul. The health ministry is working to provide relief to those affected by the accident.
Survivors were taken to nearby hospitals, where they were given oxygen and bandaged. The Nineveh Health Service reported that the fire claimed the lives of around 150 individuals.
According to Nineveh’s deputy health chief Ahmed Dubardani, the couple was killed in Nineveh during a slow dance, with conflicting reports stating that some visitors claimed they managed to escape through the kitchen. The fire started as they were preparing for the dance. Iraqi News Agency estimates there were 150 injuries.
In addition to ordering an investigation into the fire, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani demanded assistance from the interior and health ministries of the nation. Provincial governor Najim al-Jubouri reported some injured individuals were transported to hospitals.
Images and footage from regional media showcased that the fire involved a twisted building wreckage and firefighters, with hundreds of people present at the scene.
Following the tragedy, many people visited Hamdaniyah region hospitals to donate blood. According to civil defence representatives cited by the Iraqi news agency, the wedding hall’s outside is embellished with extremely flammable cladding that is prohibited in the nation.
Corruption and poor management persist in Iraq two decades after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Officials allowed fire-resistant cladding on facilities, but experts claim these were not built to meet strict safety regulations and were often installed without breaks to delay or stop potential flames.
The fire was the most recent catastrophe to affect Iraq’s decreasing Christian minority, which has been viciously targeted over the past 20 years by extremists, first from the militant group Isis and subsequently al-Qaida.
The Nineveh plains were liberated from ISIS six years ago, but many villages remain in ruins. Today, there are only 150,000 Christians in Iraq, compared to 1.5 million in 2003. Over 40 million people live in Iraq.
In another incident, a small fire forced the evacuation of the Al-Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad, but everything was brought under control.
Several Gulf state envoys stayed at a hotel in Iraq’s Green Zone, where a fire broke out in the kitchen. All guests have returned to their rooms, as an evacuation was a regular precaution.
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