More than 100 dead, 150 injured in Iraq wedding fire

NINEVEH: More than 100 people were killed and 150 injured in a fire at a wedding party in Hamdaniya district in Iraq’s Nineveh province.

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

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.

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 p.m. local time and that hundreds of people were in attendance at the time of the incident.

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

Iraq’s civil defence said initial reports indicated that fireworks used during the celebration may have been the cause of the fire. Preliminary information indicated that the building was made of “highly flammable” construction materials, contributing to its rapid collapse.

“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.

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.