Blaze erupted as families were having dinner and shopping, authorities in Wasit governorate say
\n Kut
\nAt least 61 people have been killed and several more are missing in a huge fire at a hypermarket in Kut city in eastern Iraq, according to officials.
\nThe Iraqi Interior Ministry said on Thursday that 14 charred bodies had been found in the mall fire in the Wasit governorate and that civil defence teams had rescued 45 people from inside the building.
\nVideos on social media showed flames engulfing a five-storey building in Kut overnight, where firefighters were trying to contain the fire.
\nThe mall, which had opened only a week earlier, also contained a restaurant and supermarket. The state-run Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported that people remained missing.
\nIraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani said in a statement that he had directed the interior minister to go to the site of the fire to investigate and take measures to prevent a recurrence.
\nThe Wasit province governor, Mohammed al-Mayahi, said the fire broke out in both the hypermarket and a restaurant. Families were having dinner and shopping, he said. Firefighters rescued a number of people and put out the fire, the governor added.
\nThree days of mourning have been announced and an investigation has been launched. Investigation results will be released within 48 hours.
\n\u201cA tragedy and a calamity have befallen us,\u201d the governor said.
\n\u201cWe have filed lawsuits against the owner of the building and the mall,\u201d INA quoted the governor as saying.
\nPoor building standards have often contributed to tragic fires in Iraq. In July 2021, a blaze at a hospital in Nasiriyah that killed more than 60 people was determined to have been fuelled by highly flammable, low-cost type of \u201csandwich panel\u201d cladding that is illegal in Iraq.
\nIn 2023, more than 100 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Blaze erupted as families were having dinner and shopping, authorities in Wasit governorate say Kut At least 61 people have been killed and several more are missing in a huge fire at a hypermarket in Kut city in eastern Iraq, according to officials. The Iraqi Interior Ministry said on Thursday that 14 charred bodies had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490989,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-490947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n