Authorities warned on Wednesday that the death toll could go up after a fire ripped through a ballroom holding a Christian wedding in northern Iraq, killing at least 100 people and injuring 150 more.
According to authorities, the incident occurred in the Hamdaniya neighborhood of Iraq’s Nineveh region. Nearby Mosul, which is located around 335 kilometers (205 miles) northwest of Baghdad, is a region that is primarily Christian.
As the fire spread, television footage showed flames streaming over the bridal hall. People walking through the scene of the fire could only see charred metal and debris, with the only light coming from television cameras and the lights of observers’ cell phones.
As more oxygen cylinders were being organized, survivors were transported to nearby hospitals where they were given oxygen and bandaged while their families lingered about in the hallways and outside.
The Nineveh province’s health department increased the death toll to 114. Saif al-Badr, a spokesman for the health ministry, earlier reported 150 injuries through the official Iraqi News Agency.
Al-Badr stated that “every effort is being made to provide relief to those affected by the unfortunate accident.”
According to a statement posted online by the prime minister’s office, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered an investigation into the fire and requested assistance from the interior and health ministries of the nation.
Nineveh’s province governor, Najim al-Jubouri, reported that some of the injured had been sent to nearby hospitals. He advised that there were still unconfirmed casualty numbers from the fire, indicating that the death toll could potentially increase.
Although the source of the fire was not immediately known, early reports by the Kurdish television news channel Rudaw stated that fireworks at the event may have been what started the fire.
According to civil defense officials cited by the Iraqi News Agency, the wedding hall’s outside was adorned with flammable cladding that was prohibited in the nation.
“The fire led to the collapse of parts of the hall as a result of the use of highly flammable, low-cost building materials that collapse within minutes when the fire breaks out,” civil defense said.
It wasn’t immediately clear why authorities in Iraq allowed the cladding to be used on the hall, though corruption and mismanagement remains endemic two decades after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
While some types of cladding can be made with fire-resistant material, experts say those that have caught fire at the wedding hall and elsewhere weren’t designed to meet stricter safety standards and often were put onto buildings without any breaks to slow or halt a possible blaze.
This includes numerous high-rise fires in the United Arab Emirates as well as the 2017 Grenfell Fire in London, which claimed 72 lives and was the deadliest fire on British territory since World War II.
The fire was the most recent catastrophe to affect Iraq’s dwindling Christian minority, which has been ruthlessly targeted over the past 20 years by extremists, first from al-Qaida and later the militant organization Islamic State.
Even though the Islamic State organization was driven out of the Nineveh plains, the country’s historical homeland, six years ago, certain villages are still largely in ruins and are lacking in essential amenities. A lot of Christians have emigrated to Europe, Australia, or the US.
In contrast to the 1.5 million Christians in Iraq in 2003, the estimated number of Christians today is 150,000. More than 40 million people live in Iraq.
