Fireworks seemingly caused the blaze, but authorities said flammable building materials contributed to the spread.
A raging fire seemingly caused by fireworks set off to celebrate a Christian wedding consumed a hall packed with guests in northern Iraq, killing around 100 people and injuring 150 others as authorities warned Wednesday the death toll could still rise.
Multiple witnesses, including 50-year-old wedding attendee Faten Youssef, said the fire started as the bride and groom began their slow dance. The flames raced through plastic decorations and the ceiling started collapsing, she said. A Health Ministry official, speaking to the AP at midday Wednesday on condition of anonymity as he did not have authorization to talk to journalists, said that 30 bodies have been identified by their relatives, but the rest are so badly burned that will require DNA identification.
Father Rudi Saffar Khoury, a priest at the wedding, said"It was a disaster in every sense of the word." Hamdaniya is on Iraq's Nineveh Plains and under the control of its central government, though it is close to and claimed by Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish regional government. Masrour Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdish region, ordered hospitals there to help those hurt in the blaze.
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A fire at a wedding hall in Iraq kills at least 100 and injures 150 moreA fire at a wedding hall in northern Iraq has killed at least 100 people and injured 150 others.
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Wedding hall fire in northern Iraq kills at least 100 people, injures 150 othersThere was no immediate official word on the cause of the fire, but initial media reports suggested it may have been caused by fireworks.
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Fire at wedding hall in northern Iraq kills at least 100 people, injures 150 moreThere was no immediate official word on the cause of the blaze but initial reports by the Kurdish television news channel Rudaw suggested fireworks at the venue may have sparked the fire.
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Fire at Wedding Hall in Northern Iraq Kills at Least 100 People, Injures 150 MoreA fire at a wedding hall in northern Iraq killed at least 100 people and injured 150 others, authorities said Wednesday.The fire happened in Iraq's Nineveh province, authorities said. There was no immediate word on the cause of the blaze.Health authorities gave the casualty...
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Fire at packed Iraq wedding kills at least 100 people, injures 150Authorities said that flammable building materials also contributed to the latest disaster to hit Iraq's dwindling Christian minority.
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