A fire at a shopping center in eastern Iraq kills more than 60 people
KUT Iraq AP A fire engulfed a newly opened shopping center in eastern Iraq killing more than people including children Iraqi authorities explained Thursday Civil defense teams rescued more than people who became trapped when the fire broke out late Wednesday in the city of Kut in Wasit province the Interior Ministry commented in a announcement Others are still missing according to the state-run Iraqi News Agency Photographs and videos on local media proved the five-story Corniche Hypermarket Mall engulfed in flames only a week after it had opened While the cause of the fire is still under scrutiny personnel and residents alleged that a lack of fire safety measures in the building contributed to the scale of the tragedy Iraq s Interior Ministry announced in a report that people died in the shopping center fire the greater part of them from suffocation Among the dead were charred bodies that remain unidentified it revealed The fire was deeply painful for the area noted -year-old Kut resident Abdul Redha Thahab My friend and neighbor s family who lived right next to my house a family of six the husband his wife their two daughters and two young children all perished in the fire he announced Provincial Gov Mohammed al-Miyahi declared three days of mourning He noted legal cases were filed against the building owner and shopping center owner but did not specify what the charges were We assure the families of the innocent casualties that we will not be lenient with those who were directly or indirectly responsible for this situation al-Mayyeh mentioned In a phone interview with The Associated Press al-Miyahi called the fire a heartbreaking tragedy for the people of Wasit and alleged that the building owner had not implemented the necessary fire safety measures when he converted it into a shopping center He mentioned that no executive official has resigned or been dismissed as a product of the fire and that they are at the moment awaiting the results of the scrutiny The results of the preliminary examination will be distributed within hours he commented The building owner could not right away be reached for comment Poor building standards have often contributed to tragic fires in Iraq In July a blaze at a hospital in the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah that killed between to people was determined to have been fueled by highly flammable low-cost type of sandwich panel cladding that is illegal in Iraq In more than people died in a fire at a wedding hall in the predominantly Christian area of Hamdaniya in Nineveh province after the ceiling panels above a pyrotechnic machine burst into flames Thahab the Kut resident disclosed the building lacked fire safety measures including crisis exit stairways Residents of the neighborhood had joined firefighters in battling the blaze because there were not enough fire trucks to fast control it he revealed Specific of the casualties came from farther afield In the southern city of Najaf Imad al-Quraishi walked in the funeral procession of a relative who died in the blaze Like others he blamed poor safety standards No crisis exits no fire extinguisher no care nothing he disclosed adding that if the personnel in the area have any honor they will submit their resignation in current times Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani visited the site of the fire Thursday He did not speak publicly at the site but noted in a declaration that he had directed the interior minister to go to investigate and take measures to prevent a recurrence - Abdul-Zahra disclosed from Baghdad Associated Press journalist Ali Sadiq in Najaf contributed to this assessment Source
