Baghdad, Sept 27, (dpa/GNA) – Iraq on Wednesday, declared a period of national mourning for the victims of a fire that swept through a wedding party, leaving at least 114 people dead, according to an official.
Some 200 people were injured in the blaze, that broke out Tuesday night at a hall in the town of al-Hamdaniya in Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh, Governor Najim al-Jabouri said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani, has ordered three days of mourning across the country for the victims of the fire, his media office said.
Al-Jabouri on Wednesday declared a week-long period of mourning in Nineveh and ordered, that celebrations of the birthday of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed be postponed “until further notice,” according to Iraq’s state news agency INA.
The Iraqi Interior Ministry, which is in charge of home security, said nine workers at the hall were arrested and arrest warrants had been issued for four owners, INA reported.
“Criminal evidence experts and civil defence confirmed, that the hall was constructed of the highly inflammable Ecobond material. There were also fireworks that caused the fire incident, in addition to lack of safety requirements,” the ministry’s spokesman Saad Maan said, according to INA.
Pictures of the disaster showed a collapsed and burnt-out hall.
Videos posted on social media purportedly showed moments before the fire, and burning pieces of the room’s panelling falling from the ceiling. Wedding guests jumped up from tables and tried to get to safety. The wedding couple on the dance floor appeared to be in shock.
Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari, on Wednesday ordered that a committee be formed to investigate the incident that the ministry said according to a preliminary report was “not criminal” but due to the absence of safety measures.
There were around 1,000 people inside the hall at the time of the fire, according to Nineveh Deputy Governor Hassan al-Alaf.
The fire caused the hall to collapse. Rescue workers searched for survivors under the rubble as crowds gathered at the scene.
GNA