Wednesday marked a day of sorrow and mourning in Nineveh province, northern Iraq, as the community came together to console one another following a devastating fire that erupted during a wedding celebration.
Fireworks sparked the fire and claimed the lives of at least a hundred people, leaving hundreds more injured. CGTN’s Michal Bardavid reports.
WATCH: Iraq wedding party fire
In what should have been a day of joyous celebration, a heart-wrenching tragedy unfolded in Hamdaniya, located approximately 40 kilometres from Mosul.
A fire engulfed the wedding hall on Tuesday night as the bride and groom shared their first dance on the ballroom floor.
Preliminary investigations suggest that sparks from a pyrotechnics machine ignited ceiling panels, sending panic-stricken guests scrambling for the exits.
Remarkably, the bride and groom survived the ordeal despite initial reports suggesting otherwise. As reported by BBC News Arabic, civil defence officials have confirmed their survival.
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Families bid farewell
On Wednesday, hundreds of grieving individuals gathered to bid farewell to some victims. Tearful families clutching photographs of their loved ones came together to pray and mourn as coffins were solemnly carried away for burial.
Amidst the ashes and charred remnants of the wedding hall, one survivor bravely recounted the harrowing moment when tragedy struck.
One of the guests who survived the fire recalled what happened.
“I was sitting there; the bride and groom were slow dancing, fireworks around the bride and groom, feather decorations hanging from the ceiling. It took just one minute for the feathers to catch fire. The owner of the wedding hall opened the door immediately, and the hall was engulfed in flames. We thought it was a nuclear bomb,” said Rawnaq Sabih.
Survivors received medical treatment At the Al-Hamdaniya General Hospital.
One of the bride’s relatives described how he and his niece helped rescue guests from the deadly inferno.
“People were stepping on people, and there was no space to escape. There was only one small door, and the entire ceiling was ablaze. We were exhausted. My niece and I pulled out many bodies,” explained Wathiq Abdulaziz Majid.
State media reports that highly flammable construction materials were used in the building, potentially contributing to the rapid spread of the fire.
“I believe negligence played a significant role in this tragedy in Al Hamdaniyah, resulting in the loss of dozens of lives in Hamdaniyah,” said the Acting Mayor of Mosul District, Salih Hassan Ali.
An investigation into the incident is underway, and several venue staff members and the owner were arrested on Wednesday.
The Iraqi government has declared three days of mourning for the victims.
*CGTN is a BGTN content partner.
