Islamabad (News Desk):More than 100 people die in an Iraq wedding fire as family locate the dead.
A devastating fire engulfed a crowded wedding hall in northern Iraq late on Tuesday, resulting in the tragic loss of over 100 lives. This incident occurred in a Christian town that had previously endured occupation by the Islamic State. Authorities have initiated an investigation into the cause of the fire.
Firefighters worked tirelessly to search through the burned remnants of the building in Qaraqoush well into Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, grieving family members gathered outside a morgue in the nearby city of Mosul, where they expressed their sorrow through wails and anguished rocking.
There was no wedding here. As she waited for authorities to return the bodies of her daughter Rana Yakoub, 27, and three little grandchildren, the youngest of whom was just eight months old, Mariam Khedr sobbed and struck herself.
The fire started about an hour into the wedding celebration, which came after an earlier church ceremony, when pyrotechnics burned a ceiling decoration while the bride and groom danced, according to survivors.
Hassan al-Allaq, the deputy governor of Nineveh province, told Reuters that 113 deaths had been officially confirmed. According to state media, at least 100 deaths and 150 injuries had been reported.
According to official media, the interior minister, Abdul Amir al-Shammari, said that flares lit during the celebration started a fire in the ceiling that spread to a sizable event hall in Hamdaniya.
While screams of delight quickly changed to fright, a video of the incident that was posted to social media but has not yet been authenticated by Reuters appeared to show the flares catching a sparkling ceiling decoration that caught fire.
State media stated that the Interior Ministry had issued four arrest warrants for the owners of the wedding facility, and President Abdul Latif Rashid requested an investigation.
According to preliminary evidence, the structure was constructed using extremely combustible materials, which may have accelerated its collapse, according to official media.