Over 100 people were killed and over 150 others injured in a fire that happened at a wedding in Iraq.
A raging fire seemingly caused by fireworks set off to celebrate a Christian wedding consumed a hall packed with guests in northern Iraq, killing around 100 people and injuring 150 others as authorities warned Wednesday the death toll could still rise.
Multiple witnesses, including 50-year-old wedding attendee Faten Youssef, said the fire started as the bride and groom began their slow dance. The flames raced through plastic decorations and the ceiling started collapsing, she said. An initial Health Ministry statement, carried by the state-run Iraqi News Agency, said the blaze killed over 100 people and injured 150. Health officials in Nineveh province put the death toll at 114, while Iraqi Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari later put the death toll at 93.
"The majority of them were completely burned and some others had 50 to 60% of their bodies burned," Dubardani said. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered an investigation into the fire and asked the country's Interior and Health officials to provide relief, his office said in a statement online.
One of the owners of the venue, Chonny Suleiman Naboo, blamed the fire on an "electrical fault in the ceiling" when speaking to the AP. He insisted the venue had "all the officials' approvals" and that his brother and the hall's supervisor would turn themselves into authorities.
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