<\/p>\n
At least 100 people were killed and more than 150 injured when a fire broke out during a wedding at an event hall in the northern Iraqi town of Qaraqosh, officials said early on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
At the main hospital in the predominantly Christian town east of Mosul, an AFP<\/em> photographer saw ambulances arriving with sirens blaring and dozens of people gathering in the courtyard to donate blood.<\/p>\n Others could be seen gathering in front of the open doors of a refrigerated truck loaded with black body bags.<\/p>\n Citing a \u201cpreliminary tally\u201d, Iraq\u2019s official INA<\/em> news agency reported that health authorities in Nineveh province had \u201ccounted 100 dead and more than 150 injured in the fire at a marriage hall in Hamdaniyah\u201d, as the town is also known.<\/p>\n The casualty toll was confirmed to AFP<\/em> by health ministry spokesman Saif al-Badr.<\/p>\n Badr said most of the injured were being treated for burns or oxygen deprivation, adding that there had also been crowd crushes in the packed reception hall.<\/p>\n The Iraqi Red Crescent said it had recorded more than 450 casualties but was unable to provide a breakdown of how many had died.<\/p>\n In a statement, civil defence authorities reported the presence of prefabricated panels inside the event hall that were \u201chighly flammable and contravened safety standards\u201d.<\/p>\n The danger was compounded by the \u201crelease of toxic gases linked to the combustion of the panels\u201d, which contained plastic.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fire caused some parts of the ceiling to fall due to the use of highly flammable, low-cost construction materials,\u201d the statement said, with \u201cpreliminary information\u201d suggesting fireworks were to blame for the blaze.<\/p>\n Wedding guest Rania Waad, who sustained a burn to her hand, said that as the bride and groom \u201cwere slow dancing, the fireworks started to climb to the ceiling (and) the whole hall went up in flames\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe couldn\u2019t see anything,\u201d the 17-year-old said, choking back sobs. \u201cWe were suffocating, we didn\u2019t know how to get out.\u201d<\/p>\n Emergency crews were seen sifting through the charred remains of the event hall early Wednesday, inspecting the scene by flashlight.<\/p>\n In a brief statement, Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani called on the health and interior ministers to \u201cmobilise all rescue efforts\u201d to help the victims of the fire.<\/p>\n The health ministry said \u201cmedical aid trucks\u201d had been dispatched to the area from Baghdad and other provinces, adding that its teams in Nineveh had been mobilised to care for the injured.<\/p>\n Safety standards in Iraq\u2019s construction sector are often disregarded, and the country, whose infrastructure is in disrepair after decades of conflict, is often the scene of fatal fires and accidents.<\/p>\n In July 2021, a fire in the Covid unit of a hospital in southern Iraq killed more than 60 people<\/a>.<\/p>\n And in April of the same year, exploding oxygen tanks triggered a fire at a hospital in Baghdad \u2014 also dedicated to Covid patients \u2014 that killed more than 80 people<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u2018We were suffocating\u2019<\/h2>\n