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Survivor blames air conditioning unit explosion
A fire has torn through a newly opened shopping mall in the eastern Iraqi city of Kut, killing at least 61 people with many others injured.
The cause was not immediately known, but one survivor said the shopping mall blaze in the eastern city of Kut, started after an air conditioning unit exploded as desperate families searched for missing relatives.
According to emergency officials, many people suffocated in bathrooms, while one person said that his five relatives died in a lift.
Though the cause was not immediately known, one survivor hinted that the shopping mall blaze in the eastern city of Kut, started after an air conditioning unit exploded in one of the shops.
The blaze, the latest in a country where safety regulations are frequently neglected, broke out late on Wednesday, reportedly starting on the first floor before rapidly engulfing the five-storey Corniche Hypermarket mall.
Several people said they lost family members, and in some cases whole families, who had gone to shop and dine at the mall days after it opened in Kut, 100 miles south-east of Baghdad.
Footage shared on social media showed people, including children, standing on the roof, calling for help. Charred bodies were taken to the province’s forensic department.
Ali Kadhim, 51, said he had been shuttling between the mall and the main hospital where the victims were taken, looking for his cousin, who is missing along with his wife and three children.
Back at the mall, he waited anxiously as rescuers searched for victims in the wreckage with an ambulance on standby. “We don’t know what happened to them,” Kadhim said.
A statement by the Interior Ministry said: “The tragic fire claimed the lives of 61 innocent citizens, most of whom suffocated in bathrooms, and among them 14 charred bodies yet to be identified.”
Also, the official INA news agency later quoted a medical source who put the toll at 63 dead and 40 injured.
The Provincial Governor of Wasit, Mohammed al-Miyahi, told INA the victims included men, women and children while a medical source in Kut said there were “many unidentified bodies”.
Civil defence teams rescued more than 45 people who were trapped inside the building, which includes a restaurant and a supermarket, the Interior Ministry said.
In the process, wardd of the main hospital were overwhelmed, while elsewhere, distraught relatives waited at the forensic department for news, some collapsing in grief. This is as one of the men fell apart, pounding his chest and screaming.
Devastated by the unfortunate development, Nasir al-Quraishi, a doctor in his 50s, said he lost five family members in the fire.
“A disaster has befallen us. 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”, he said
Also, Moataz Karim, 45, rushed to the mall at midnight, to be met with the news that three of his relatives were missing.
Hours later, he identified the charred bodies of two relatives, one of whom had begun working at the shopping centre three days ago.
“There is no fire extinguishing system,” he said angrily, as he waited for further news outside the forensic department.
Safety standards in Iraq’s construction sector are often disregarded and the country, whose infrastructure is in disrepair after decades of conflict, often experiences fatal fires and accidents. Fires increase during the blistering summer, as temperatures approach 50C.
In September 2023, a fire killed at least 100 people when it ripped through a crowded Iraqi wedding hall, sparking a panicked rush for the exits.
In July 2021, a fire in the COVID unit of a hospital in southern Iraq killed more than 60 people.
Miyahi said local authorities would file a lawsuit against the mall’s owner and the building contractor.
“The tragedy is a major shock … and requires a serious review of all safety measures,” he said.
With the government declaring three days of mourning, the Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, ordered a thorough investigation into the fire to identify shortcomings and prevent further incidents. – With The Guardian reports
