“We noticed the hearth pulsating, popping out of the corridor. Those that managed bought out and people who didn’t bought caught. Even those that made their means out have been damaged,” Imad Yohana, a 34-year-old who fled the blaze, informed Reuters.
The venue in Nineveh’s Al-Hamdaniyah district, which is about 200 miles from the capital of Baghdad, was lined in flammable panels, inflicting elements of the marriage corridor to break down beneath the warmth of the blaze, the Iraqi Information Company reported, citing native civil protection officers. The corridor’s building didn’t meet civil protection security necessities, in line with the company.
The Iraqi well being and inside ministries are aiding victims of the hearth, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s workplace stated in a press release Wednesday morning native time.
He has ordered an investigation into the reason for the hearth.
Help had arrived from neighboring areas, and probably the most severely injured have been transferred to specialist facilities, Well being Ministry spokesman Saif Al-Badr informed the state-run information company.
Movies from the scene confirmed firefighters combing the wreckage for clues, as armed officers stood guard on a road lined with emergency autos. Charred steel dangled from the ceiling of the burned-out constructing.
State media reviews prompt fireworks have been lit throughout the wedding ceremony celebrations.
It was not instantly clear how the constructing got here to be lined with flammable panels. After a string of lethal hospital fires in 2021, Iraqis blamed official corruption and mismanagement that led Iraq to turn into one of many world’s most corrupt international locations.
A nine-month investigation by The Submit final 12 months discovered an anti-corruption drive used detention, torture and sexual violence to extract confessions from senior Iraqi officers and enterprise executives.
Louisa Loveluck and Mustafa Salim contributed to this report.
