Shopping centre fire in Iraq kills more than 60 people

Iraqi officials said that in a newly opened shopping center in Eastern Iraq, fire killed more than 60 people, including women and children.

The Iraqi Interior Ministry said that 61 people were killed in a fire in Kut, Wasit, late on Wednesday.

He said, there were 14 charred bodies that were not identified among the dead, dedi he said.

In a statement, civil defense teams can save more than 45 people stuck in the building.

The shopping center, which was opened just a week ago, was in a five -storey building with a restaurant and supermarket.

The Iraqi News Agency, operated by the state, reported that people were missing.

Photographs and videos on the local media showed that the building was completely swallowed in flames.

Provincial Governor Muhammad al-Mayyeh declared three days of mourning.

He said that the cause of the fire was under investigation, but legal cases against the construction owner and the shopping center owner were filed against the owner.

“We guarantee that we will not be soft to the families of innocent victims with those who are directly or indirectly responsible for this incident.” He said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shiite Al-Sudani said in a statement that the Interior Minister was directed to go to the place of fire to investigate and take precautions to prevent recurrence.

Bad building standards often contributed to tragic fires in Iraq.

In July 2021, a fire in a hospital that killed 60 to 92 people in Nasiriyah, Iraq, was found to be fed with a highly flammable, low -cost “sandwich panel” coating in Iraq.