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The National
4 days ago
- Politics
- The National
At least 61 people killed in fire at Iraq hypermarket
At least 61 people have been killed in a fire at a hypermarket in the Iraqi city of Kut, with many of the victims dying from suffocation inside rooms filled with smoke. Iraq's Interior Ministry said more than 45 others had been rescued, while 14 bodies recovered from the scene remained unidentified. 'The tragic fire claimed the lives of 61 innocent citizens, most of whom suffocated in bathrooms,' the ministry said. Mohammed Al Mayahi, the Governor of Wasit province, of which Kut is the capital, announced a three-day mourning period after the 'tragic fire in one of the commercial centres' on Wednesday night. The cause of the blaze was electrical failure, the head of the Wasit provincial council's security committee Habib Al Badri told The National. ' The building violates safety requirements,' he added, saying the fire started from the second floor and went up to the fifth. Exacerbating the situation, he said, was that the civil defence 'didn't have modern equipment to contain the fire, therefore they used construction cranes from contractors'. At a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani said the fire 'occurred due to the same mistakes' seen in previous tragedies, according to a statement from his office. He blamed 'the same negligence and leniency in health and safety conditions'. Mr Al Sudani described the latest incident as a 'form of murder and corruption', saying it 'requires deterrent and punitive measures'. The cabinet also agreed to compensate the families of the victims with 10 million Iraqi dinar (about $7,000) each and ordered the Health Ministry to treat the injured abroad if needed. Videos on social media showed flames engulfing the five-storey hypermarket, sending thick plumes of smoke into the air as panicked shoppers rushed to escape. Firefighters raced to extinguish the blaze and rescue those trapped inside. Families, many with young children, were seen fleeing the scene, some clutching babies as they coughed and covered their faces to shield themselves from the smoke. Others were trapped on the upper floors. On Thursday morning, grieving families gathered outside the city's main hospital and morgue to collect the bodies of their loved ones. Women were wailing and beating their chests in grief. Nasir Al Quraishi, a doctor in his fifties, said he lost five family members in the fire. 'A disaster has befallen us,' he told the AFP news agency. 'We went to the mall to have some food, eat dinner and escape power cuts at home. 'An air conditioner exploded on the second floor and then the fire erupted – and we couldn't escape.' Safety standards in the construction sector are frequently flouted in Iraq, with accidents common. Widespread corruption and weak government monitoring have been blamed for the lack of standards in many areas of the country. High-profile disasters in recent years include hospital fires that have led to hundreds of deaths, with these incidents blamed on poor storage of medical oxygen cylinders, faulty electrical wiring and a general lack of safety measures. In September 2023, a devastating fire at a wedding left more than 100 people dead in the predominantly Christian district of Al Hamdaniyah, also known as Qaraqosh, to the east of Mosul, when about 1,000 guests were packed into a hall.
Times of Oman
5 days ago
- Times of Oman
Iraq: At least 61 dead, several missing after massive fire at hypermarket in Kut city
Baghdad: A massive fire in a five-storey commercial complex in Kut city, eastern Iraq, has left at least 61 people dead and several others missing, according to the country's Interior Ministry, Al Jazeera reported. The fire broke out late Wednesday night in a building that had opened just a week ago. It housed a hypermarket, a restaurant, and other shops. According to a statement issued by the Interior Ministry on Thursday, civil defence teams recovered 14 charred bodies and rescued at least 45 people. "We have compiled a list of 59 victims whose identities have been confirmed, but one body was so badly burned that it has been extremely difficult to identify," a local health official told Al Jazeera, quoting Reuters. Wasit province Governor Mohammed al-Mayahi confirmed that the fire began inside both the hypermarket and a nearby restaurant. He said many families were inside the complex, dining and shopping, when the flames spread quickly. "A tragedy and a calamity have befallen us," Al-Mayahi said, adding that firefighters managed to rescue several people before putting out the fire. Videos shared on social media showed flames engulfing the tall building as emergency teams worked to control the blaze and reach those trapped inside. Al Jazeera, citing Iraqi News Agency (INA), reported that lawsuits have been filed against the owner of the building and the mall. The governor has ordered a full investigation and promised that the findings will be made public within 48 hours.
The National
5 days ago
- The National
At least 61 people killed in hypermarket fire in Iraq
At least 61 people have been killed in a massive fire at a hypermarket in the Iraqi city of Kut, with many of the victims dying from suffocation inside bathrooms filled with smoke. Iraq's interior ministry said more than 45 others had been rescued, while 14 charred bodies recovered from the scene remained unidentified. Mohammed Al Mayahi, the governor of Wasit province, of which Kut is the capital, announced a three-day mourning period after the 'tragic fire in one of the commercial centres' on Wednesday night. The cause of the blaze was not immediately known, but the governor said initial findings from an investigation would be announced within 48 hours, Iraq's state news agency reported. Videos circulating on social media showed flames engulfing the five-storey hypermarket, sending thick plumes of smoke into the air as panicked shoppers rushed to escape. Firefighters raced to extinguish the blaze and rescue those trapped inside. The interior ministry said most of the victims died from smoke inhalation while trapped in bathrooms. Families, many with young children, were seen fleeing the scene, some clutching babies as they coughed and covered their faces to shield themselves from the smoke. Others were trapped on upper floors. On Thursday morning, grieving families gathered outside the city's main hospital and morgue to pick up the bodies of their loved ones. Women were wailing and beating their chests in grief. Safety standards in the construction sector are frequently flouted in Iraq, with accidents common. Widespread corruption and weak government monitoring have been blamed for the lack of standards in many areas of the country. High-profile disasters in recent years include hospital fires that have led to hundreds of deaths, with these incidents blamed on poor storage of highly flammable oxygen cylinders, faulty electrical wiring and a general lack of safety measures. In September 2023, a devastating wedding inferno left more than 100 people dead in the predominantly Christian district of Al Hamdaniyah, also known as Qaraqosh, to the east of Mosul, when about 1,000 guests were packed into a hall.
Al Bawaba
5 days ago
- Politics
- Al Bawaba
Iraq: 50 people killed in fire at hypermarket mall in Kut city
ALBAWABA - At least 50 people were killed after a fire broke out in a shopping center in the city of Kut, south of Baghdad, Iraqi media reported on Thursday morning. Earlier, the Wasit Governorate Police Command announced a full mobilization of civil defense teams to extinguish the blaze that erupted at the Corniche hypermarket mall. According to the media, the city's Governor Mohammed Al-Mayahi supervised the rescue of trapped citizens himself, while firefighters worked to put out the fire. Fire at the hypermarket mall in Kut city in Iraq. (X) In a statement to the Iraqi News Agency (INA), the police department said: "There are ongoing efforts and a full mobilization of civil defense teams. With the participation of all security and service formations in the governorate, operations to extinguish the fire that broke out at the Corniche Hypermarket Mall in the center of Kut are continuing." For its part, the Wasit Governorate Office stated in a statement that "Civil Defense was able to reach citizens trapped at the top of the building that was engulfed in flames in the center of Kut," noting that "the Governor of Wasit is supervising the rescue of citizens trapped inside the hypermarket mall building that suffered the fire." A video was posted online showing a huge blaze eating the building while firefighters were trying to stop it.
