More than 100 people killed after fire breaks out at Iraq wedding
#englishnews #iraqweddingaccident
News Article :-
More than 100 people have been killed and 150 people injured in a fire at a wedding celebration in the district of Hamdaniya in Iraq’s Nineveh province, Iraqi state media have reported.
The health department in Nineveh put the death toll at 114. Health ministry spokesperson Saif al-Badr had earlier put the number of injured at 150.
“All efforts are being made to provide relief to those affected by the unfortunate accident,” al-Badr said.
“The majority of the injured suffer from burns and asphyxiation,” he said, adding that there had also been crowd crushes at the scene.
Civil defence authorities said that preliminary information suggested fireworks were to blame for the blaze and the Kurdish television news channel Rudaw aired footage showing fireworks shooting up from the floor of the events hall and setting a chandelier aflame.
Footage shown on other local television networks appeared to show the bride and groom on the dancefloor when the fire began Tuesday night, stunned by the sight of the burning debris. It wasn’t immediately clear if they were among those hurt.
Eyewitnesses at the site said the building caught fire at about 10:45pm local time and that hundreds of people were in attendance at the time of the incident. Some of those burned included children.
Wedding attender Rania Waad, who sustained a burn to her hand, said that as the bride and groom “were slow dancing, the fireworks started to climb to the ceiling, the whole hall went up in flames”.
“We couldn’t see anything,” the 17-year-old said. “We were suffocating, we didn’t know how to get out.”
“We saw the fire pulsating, coming out of the hall,” said Imad Yohana, a 34-year-old who escaped the inferno. “Those who managed got out and those who didn’t got stuck. Even those who made their way out were broken.”
In a statement, civil defence authorities reported the presence of prefabricated panels inside the event hall that were “highly flammable and contravened safety standards”.
The danger was compounded by the “release of toxic gases linked to the combustion of the panels”, which contained plastic.
“The fire caused some parts of the ceiling to fall due to the use of highly flammable, low-cost construction materials,” the statement said, with “preliminary information” suggesting fireworks were to blame.
Ambulances and medical crews were dispatched to the site by federal Iraqi authorities and authorities in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, according to official statements.
At the main hospital in Hamdaniya – a predominantly Christian town east of Mosul that is also known as Qaraqosh – an AFP photographer saw ambulances arriving with sirens blaring and dozens of people gathering in the courtyard to donate blood.
Ahmed Dubardani, a health official in the province, told Rudaw that many of those injured had suffered serious burns.
“The majority of them w
News Article :-
More than 100 people have been killed and 150 people injured in a fire at a wedding celebration in the district of Hamdaniya in Iraq’s Nineveh province, Iraqi state media have reported.
The health department in Nineveh put the death toll at 114. Health ministry spokesperson Saif al-Badr had earlier put the number of injured at 150.
“All efforts are being made to provide relief to those affected by the unfortunate accident,” al-Badr said.
“The majority of the injured suffer from burns and asphyxiation,” he said, adding that there had also been crowd crushes at the scene.
Civil defence authorities said that preliminary information suggested fireworks were to blame for the blaze and the Kurdish television news channel Rudaw aired footage showing fireworks shooting up from the floor of the events hall and setting a chandelier aflame.
Footage shown on other local television networks appeared to show the bride and groom on the dancefloor when the fire began Tuesday night, stunned by the sight of the burning debris. It wasn’t immediately clear if they were among those hurt.
Eyewitnesses at the site said the building caught fire at about 10:45pm local time and that hundreds of people were in attendance at the time of the incident. Some of those burned included children.
Wedding attender Rania Waad, who sustained a burn to her hand, said that as the bride and groom “were slow dancing, the fireworks started to climb to the ceiling, the whole hall went up in flames”.
“We couldn’t see anything,” the 17-year-old said. “We were suffocating, we didn’t know how to get out.”
“We saw the fire pulsating, coming out of the hall,” said Imad Yohana, a 34-year-old who escaped the inferno. “Those who managed got out and those who didn’t got stuck. Even those who made their way out were broken.”
In a statement, civil defence authorities reported the presence of prefabricated panels inside the event hall that were “highly flammable and contravened safety standards”.
The danger was compounded by the “release of toxic gases linked to the combustion of the panels”, which contained plastic.
“The fire caused some parts of the ceiling to fall due to the use of highly flammable, low-cost construction materials,” the statement said, with “preliminary information” suggesting fireworks were to blame.
Ambulances and medical crews were dispatched to the site by federal Iraqi authorities and authorities in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, according to official statements.
At the main hospital in Hamdaniya – a predominantly Christian town east of Mosul that is also known as Qaraqosh – an AFP photographer saw ambulances arriving with sirens blaring and dozens of people gathering in the courtyard to donate blood.
Ahmed Dubardani, a health official in the province, told Rudaw that many of those injured had suffered serious burns.
“The majority of them w
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NewsTranscript
00:00 More than 100 people have been killed and 150 people injured in a fire at a wedding
00:05 celebration in the district of Hamdaniyah in Iraq's Nineveh province, Iraqi state media
00:11 have reported.
00:12 The health department in Nineveh put the death toll at 114.
00:17 Health ministry spokesperson Saif Al-Badr had earlier put the number of injured at 150.
00:23 All efforts are being made to provide relief to those affected by the unfortunate accident,
00:28 Al-Badr said.
00:30 The majority of the injured suffer from burns and asphyxiation, he said, adding that there
00:35 had also been crowd crashes at the scene.
00:38 Civil defence authorities said that preliminary information suggested fireworks were to blame
00:43 for the blaze and the Kurdish television news channel Ruda aired footage showing fireworks
00:48 shooting up from the floor of the event's hall and setting a chandelier aflame.
00:54 Footage shown on other local television networks appeared to show the bride and groom on the
00:58 dance floor when the fire began Tuesday night, stunned by the sight of the burning debris.
01:04 It wasn't immediately clear if they were among those hurt.
01:07 Eyewitnesses at the site said the building caught fire at about 10.45pm local time and
01:13 that hundreds of people were in attendance at the time of the incident.
01:17 Some of those burned included children.
01:19 Wedding attender Rania Wad, who sustained a burn to her hand, said that as the bride
01:24 and groom were slow dancing, the fireworks started to climb to the ceiling, "The whole
01:29 hall went up in flames.
01:31 We couldn't see anything," the 17-year-old said.
01:34 "We were suffocating, we didn't know how to get out.
01:37 We saw the fire pulsating, coming out of the hall," said Ahmed Yohanna, a 34-year-old who
01:44 escaped the inferno.
01:45 "Those who managed got out and those who didn't got stuck.
01:49 Even those who made their way out were broken."
01:51 In a statement, civil defence authorities reported the presence of prefabricated panels
01:56 inside the event hall that were highly flammable and contravened safety standards.
02:02 The danger was compounded by the release of toxic gases linked to the combustion of the
02:07 panels, which contained plastic.
02:09 The fire caused some parts of the ceiling to fall due to the use of highly flammable,
02:14 low-cost construction materials, the statement said, with preliminary information suggesting
02:20 fireworks were to blame.
02:23 Ambulances and medical crews were dispatched to the site by federal Iraqi authorities and
02:27 authorities in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, according to official statements.
02:33 At the main hospital in Hamdan-e-Ayaa a predominantly Christian town east of Mosul that is also
02:39 known as Qaraqosh an AFP photographer saw ambulances arriving with sirens blaring and
02:45 dozens of people gathering in the courtyard to donate blood.
02:49 Ahmed Doubreddini, a health official in the province, told Rouda that many of those injured
02:54 had suffered serious burns.
02:56 The majority of them were completely burned and some others had 50 to 60 per cent of their
03:01 bodies burned, Doubreddini said.
03:04 "This is not good at all.
03:06 The majority of them were not in good condition."
03:08 In a brief statement, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani called on the ministers
03:14 of health and the interior to mobilise all rescue efforts to help the victims of the
03:19 fire and announced an investigation.
03:21 The Ministry of Health announced that medical aid trucks had been dispatched to the area
03:26 from Baghdad and other provinces, adding that its teams in Nineveh had been mobilised to
03:31 care for the injured.
03:33 As was the case with many Christian towns in the Nineveh plains, Qaraqosh and its churches
03:38 were methodically ransacked by jihadists from the Islamic State group after they entered
03:43 the town in 2014.
03:46 The town was slowly rebuilt after the group's ouster in 2017, and it was the scene of a
03:52 visit by Pope Francis in March 2021.
03:56 Safety standards in Iraq's construction and transport sectors are often disregarded, and
04:01 the country, whose infrastructure is in disrepair after decades of conflict, is regularly the
04:07 scene of fatal fires and accidents.
04:10 In July 2021, a fire in the Khawrad unit of a hospital in the country's south killed
04:16 more than 60 people.
04:18 And in April of the same year, exploding oxygen tanks triggered a fire at a hospital in Baghdad
04:24 dedicated to Khawrad patients that left more than 80 people dead.