Sawt Falasteen - 100 killed in fire during wedding at Iraq event hall

At the main hospital in Hamdaniyah -- 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.

People were also seen gathering in front of the open doors of a refrigerated truck carrying several black body bags.

Health authorities in Nineveh province, where the town is located, "have counted 100 dead and more than 150 injured in the fire at a marriage hall in Hamdaniyah", the official Iraqi press agency INA reported, citing a "preliminary tally".

The count was confirmed to AFP by a spokesperson for the country's health ministry.

In a statement, civil defence authorities reported the presence of prefabricated panels that were "highly flammable and contravened safety standards" inside the event hall where the blaze took place.

"The fire caused some parts of the ceiling to fall due to the use of highly flammable, low-cost construction materials," the statement said.

"Preliminary information indicates that fireworks were used during a wedding, which triggered a fire in the hall."

- 'All rescue efforts' -

In a brief statement, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani called on the ministers of health and the interior to "mobilise all rescue efforts" to help the victims of the fire.

The ministry of health announced that "medical aid trucks" had been dispatched to the area from Baghdad and other provinces, adding that its teams in Nineveh had been mobilised to care for the injured.

As was the case with many Christian towns in the Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh and its churches were methodically ransacked by jihadists from the Islamic State group after they entered the town in 2014.

The town was slowly rebuilt after the group's ouster in 2017, and it was the scene of a visit by Pope Francis in March 2021.

Safety standards in Iraq's construction and transport sectors are often disregarded, and the country, whose infrastructure is in disrepair after decades of conflict, is regularly the scene of fatal fires and accidents.

In July 2021, a fire in the Covid unit of a hospital in the country's south killed more than 60 people.

And in April of the same year, exploding oxygen tanks triggered a fire at a hospital in Baghdad -- also dedicated to Covid patients -- that left more than 80 people dead.

P.Tamimi--SF-PST