A fire left more than 60 people in a shopping center

A fire that ravaged a recently open shopping center in eastern Iraq overnight. However. Furthermore, made more than 60 dead on night, the government announced on Thursday, while desperate families were still looking for their loved ones.

The authorities have ordered an investigation into the fire in the city of Kut. However, in a country where security standards are often ignored.

At least two people told AFP who had lost five family members who had gone to the Hyper Mall. Similarly, shopping center to make provisions had dinner.

‘The tragic fire cost 61 innocent citizens, most of them asphyxiated in bathrooms. Similarly, Among the victims are 14 calcined bodies which have not yet been identified, ‘said the Ministry of the Interior.

Medical sources had reported more than 50 dead earlier.

‘We have many fire left more than 60 new unidentified bodies,’ said one of these sources.

On Thursday morning. fire left more than 60 Additionally. Similarly, the emergency services were continuing their research to find missing persons, according to an AFP correspondent in Kut.

The fire, whose causes remain unknown, broke out late Wednesday evening, it seems on the first floor before spreading quickly. The fire was then under control.

Very recently opened

The ambulances continued to transport victims until 4:00 am. filling the beds of a Kut hospital, some 160 kilometers south-east of Baghdad.

An AFP correspondent saw charred bodies in the hospital. The shopping center had opened only five days earlier, he said.

Videos circulating on social networks show crying people, desperately awaiting news from their loved ones.

Dozens of people gathered in front of the hospital, checking each ambulance when they arrived. Some collapsed on the ground, overwhelmed by anxiety.

Among them. Nasir al-Qurayi, a doctor fire left more than 60 new in his fifty years, said that he had lost five family members in the fire.

fire left more than 60

‘An air conditioner explodes’

‘A disaster struck us. We went to the shopping center to buy food. prepare to eat and escape electricity cuts at home ‘, he added. ‘An air conditioner exploded, the fire broke out and we couldn’t escape.

The governor of Wasit province. Mohammed Al-Miyahi. has declared three days of mourning and indicated that local authorities would initiate prosecution against the owner of the building and the shopping center.

He added that the first results would be communicated within 48 hours.

‘This tragedy is a big shock (…) and imposes a rigorous revision of all security measures,’ he said.

Prime Minister Mohamed Chia Al-Soudani ordered a ‘in-depth investigation’ in order to identify the ‘gaps’ and prevent new dramas.

The great Ayatollah Ali Sistani. the highest authority of fire left more than 60 new Shiite Islam in Iraq, presented its condolences to the families of the victims.

Safety standards are often ignored in the fire left more than 60 construction sector in Iraq. a country whose infrastructure is dilapidated after decades of conflict. Drum fires and accidents are frequent there.

The fires multiply during the summer across the country, where temperatures are around 50 degrees Celsius.

In September 2023, at least 100 people had perished in the fire of a crowded wedding hall, causing a panic movement.

In July 2021. a fire in the covid unit of a hospital in the south of the country had left more than 60 dead.

/ATS