Wedding ceremony fire in Nineveh, Iraq, claims 100 lives, 150 injured.
The deputy governor of Nineveh, Hassan Al-Alaq, said that 113 deaths have been confirmed. However, state media reported that at least 100 people were killed and 150 injured in a fire at a wedding in Iraq.
According to local civil defense, a major event hall in the northeastern region caught fire after fireworks were launched during the celebration.
According to official declarations, both the federal Iraqi government and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq sent ambulances and medical teams to the scene.
Hundreds of people were there when the structure caught fire, according to eyewitnesses at the scene, at about 10:45pm local time.
According to the Iraqi Ministry of Health, “medical aid trucks” have been sent from Baghdad and other provinces to Nineveh. Iraq’s Health Ministry spokesman Saif al-Badr stated, “All efforts are being made to provide relief to those affected by the unfortunate accident.”
The blaze, which overtook an event venue in the province’s Hamdaniyah area where the wedding celebration was taking place, injured over 150 persons, according to the official news agency of Iraq.
Initial reports, according to Iraq’s civil defense, suggested that the fire may have been started by pyrotechnics used during the celebration. According to early reports, the building’s fast collapse was caused by the use of “highly flammable” building materials.
Civil defense authorities stated in their statement that the use of extremely flammable, inexpensive construction materials contributed to some of the ceiling falling during the fire.
According to a statement posted online by his office, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani requested an investigation into the fire and requested assistance from the Interior and Health departments of the nation.
