According to Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan, a fire broke out at a wedding venue in northern Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least 93 people and injuring 100 others.
The fire rocked a wedding venue in the predominantly Christian town of Hamdaniya, just outside the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, about 205 miles northwest of the capital Baghdad.
According to emergency services and witnesses at the scene, fireworks inside the venue started the fatal fire.
People gather at the scene after a deadly fire at a wedding celebration in Hamdaniya district of Iraq’s Nineveh province, September 27, 2023. KHALID AL-MOUSILY/Portal
“The speed of the fire due to highly flammable building materials and highly flammable decorations and curtains on the ceiling and walls surprised everyone,” emergency services in Nineveh province told reporters.
A video streamed live on social media showed the fire suddenly spreading panic among dancing guests in the ballroom, sending people, including the bride and groom, running for safety.
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The approximately 700 people who were in the building were trapped because the flames broke out near the main entrance.
“Shortly after the fire broke out there was a power outage and smoke and screaming caused chaos. People were suffocating, falling and stomping on top of each other,” a witness told reporters. “Soon afterwards, part of the ceiling collapsed, resulting in further deaths and injuries.”
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered an investigation into the fire and asked the country’s interior and health ministries for help, his office said in a statement posted online.
People gather at the scene after a deadly fire at a wedding celebration in Hamdaniya district of Iraq’s Nineveh province, September 27, 2023. KHALID AL-MOUSILY/Portal
A provincial government source in Nineveh told CBS News that an investigation is being conducted to determine not only how the fire started, but also “how and whether this venue was licensed given the poor safety conditions.”
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media about the incident, said the venue’s owner had “gone into hiding” and was hoping the person would be found and face punishment will “investigate the legality of operating such an unsafe venue.”
Iraq has faced similar tragedies in the recent past attributed to poor construction materials and inadequate safety standards, including two major fires in hospital wards for COVID-19 patients in Baghdad and Nasiriyah that killed dozens of people.