A massive fire broke out at a wedding hall in the Iraqi governorate of Ninewa on Wednesday, killing more than 450 people and injuring hundreds more, according to the Iraqi Red Crescent Society.
The fire started around 8 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) at the Al-Hussein Wedding Hall in Al-Hamdaniya District, east of Mosul, the largest city in Ninewa. The hall was packed with guests celebrating a wedding ceremony when the blaze erupted, reportedly due to an electrical short circuit.
The Iraqi Red Crescent Society said in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) that the death toll and casualties from the fire had surpassed 450. It added that its teams were working with other civil defense and health authorities to rescue the survivors and transport them to nearby hospitals.
Al Arabiya, a Saudi-owned news channel, reported earlier in the day that a total of 120 people had died in the fire and 200 others had been injured. However, the numbers rose sharply as more bodies were recovered from the charred hall.
Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid offered his condolences to the families of the victims, calling the incident a “painful tragedy.” He also urged the authorities to open an investigation into the cause of the fire and take all necessary safety measures to prevent such disasters from happening again.
Rudaw, a Kurdish media outlet, quoted Rashid as saying: “We stress the need to open an investigation, find out the circumstances of the incident, and take all safety measures to prevent its recurrence.”
Kurdish security forces said they have arrested the owner of the Hamdaniya wedding hall that burned down and killed over 100 people, and handed him over to the Iraqi authorities.
Samir Sulaiman, the proprietor of a banquet hall located in the Hamdaniya district, has been apprehended in Erbil. The arrest was made based on a warrant issued by the federal government in connection with a tragic fire at the venue. This incident resulted in the tragic loss of over 100 lives and caused injuries to numerous individuals. The information was reported by the news outlet Rudaw, quotinng to a statement from the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC).
“He was handed over to the federal Iraqi government’s interior ministry,” read the statement, the outlet said.
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced a three-day mourning in the Region “as a solidarity to the souls of the victims of the Hamdaniya incident,” said the KRG spokesperson.
Peshmawa Hawramani said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the KRG has announced a three-day mourning over the Hamdaniya wedding hall fire which killed over 100 people.
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