Iraqi officials said Thursday that a fire at a newly opened shopping mall in eastern Iraqi Waster province killed more than 60 people, including women and children.
Iraq’s interior ministry said in a statement that 61 people died in the fires that broke out in Kut late Wednesday, most of whom died from suffocation. It said there were 14 burnt bodies among the dead, which are uncertain.
The statement said that the civil defense team was able to rescue more than 45 people trapped in the building.
The mall opened just a week ago and it is in a five-story building that also contains a restaurant and a supermarket. The country-owned Iraqi news agency reported that people are still missing. Photos and videos from local media show that the building is completely engulfed in flames.
Governor Mohammed Al-Mayyeh announced three days of mourning in a statement. He said the cause of the fire is under investigation, but the legal case is against building owners and shopping mall owners. He did not specify what the charge was.
“We assure the families of innocent victims that we will not be lenient to those who are directly or indirectly responsible for this incident.”
He said the results of the preliminary investigation will be released within 48 hours.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani said in a statement that he directed the interior minister to go to the fire site to investigate and take measures to prevent recurrence.
Bad building standards often lead to tragic fires in Iraq. In July 2021, a fire in a hospital in the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah was killed between 60 and 92 people, determined to be fueled by a highly flammable low-cost “sandwich group” covering that is illegal in Iraq.
In 2023, the ceiling panel above the fireworks machine exploded, and more than 100 people died in the fire in a wedding hall in a wedding hall in the Hamdaniya area of Nineveh Province.
