At Least 100 Dead, over 150 Injured from Fire at A Wedding in Iraq

By Staff, Agencies

A fire broke out during a wedding in the northern Iraqi town of Hamdaniyah, at least 100 people lost their lives and more than 150 sustained injuries according to officials on Wednesday.

The predominantly Assyrian Christian town is also known as Qaraqosh or Bakhdida, located southeast of Mosul in the Nineveh province.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shayyaa al-Sudani called on his health and interior ministers to "mobilize all rescue efforts" to help the victims of the fire.

Health authorities "counted 100 dead and more than 150 injured in the fire at a marriage hall in Hamdaniyah," the official Iraqi press agency INA reported, citing a "preliminary tally," and was confirmed by AFP through Iraq's health ministry.

An AFP photographer added that there were already many people gathering in the early morning at the courtyard of a hospital to donate blood, as ambulances had continued to arrive and “refrigerated trucks” arrived with black body bags.

Iraqi Civil defense authorities said they found prefabricated panels built with "highly flammable and contravened safety standards" in a preliminary investigation of the event hall.

"The fire caused some parts of the ceiling to fall due to the use of highly flammable, low-cost construction materials," the statement added.

"Preliminary information indicates that fireworks were used during a wedding, which triggered a fire in the hall," the authorities concluded.

The Iraqi health ministry announced "medical aid trucks" were dispatched from Baghdad and other provinces, and teams in Nineveh had mobilized to care for the injured.