A massive fire in a shopping centre in Kut city in eastern Iraq has left at least 69 people dead and 11 others missing, the city’s health authorities and police said on Thursday.
The five-storey shopping centre had only opened only a week ago.
Civil defence teams were able to rescue more than 45 people who were trapped inside the building, Iraq’s ministry of interior said in a statement.
Footage of the aftermath of the overnight fire showed the blackened exterior of “Corniche Hypermarket” building, with rescue teams and security forces still at the site.
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Videos showed firefighters spraying water on the blazing building overnight and people climbing from the roof with the help of rescue teams.
“We have more bodies that have not been recovered still under fire debris,” city official Ali al-Mayahi told Reuters.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but an initial police report suggested that the fire had first erupted on the floor where perfumes and cosmetics are sold.
“Raging fires trapped many people inside the mall, and everyone was desperately trying to find a way out,” said Ali Al-Zargani, whose house is next to the market building and who entered the premises after the fire had subsided.
“I saw the charred bodies of children and women lying on the ground — it was a horrifying scene.”
While some of the bodies were prepared for burial, with mourners weeping and praying over the coffins, the remains of more than 15 severely burned victims required DNA testing for identification, a Reuters witness said.
As rescuers combed the smoke-charred building for more bodies, prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered an immediate investigation to “uncover any shortcomings”, his office said in a statement.
A statement from his office called for national mourning.
The provincial governor said initial results from an investigation would be announced within 48 hours, the state-run Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.
“We have filed lawsuits against the owner of the building and the mall,” INA quoted the governor as saying.
A lack of safety measures in Iraq has led to large death tolls in fires. In 2023, more than 100 people were killed after a fire swept through a crowded wedding hall in a northern town.
Footage of that incident, apparently shot by a guest, showed fireworks shooting up from the floor and setting a chandelier overhead ablaze.
Other footage appeared to show the bride and groom on the dance floor when the fire began, stunned by the sight of the burning debris.
Ahmed Dubardani, a health official in the province, told Rudaw that many of those injured suffered serious burns.
Provincial governor Mohammed al-Mayyeh declared three days of mourning.
Habib al-Badri, the head of the province’s security committee, said an electric malfunction sparked the fire, the New York Times reported. He said poor building practices and an unprepared rescue service had worsened the casualty toll.
“There was a lack of emergency exits and emergency ladders and extinguishers. And unfortunately the province was not prepared for such an incident,” he said in an interview. “We hope what happened will be a lesson for the future.”
Some political leaders in Iraq moved quickly to cite the fire as another devastating consequence of pervasive corruption in the country.
Many regional analysts say that is a legacy of the US occupation of Iraq, when money was widely dispersed for construction projects and contracts with poor oversight.
“This tragedy adds to the tragedies and suffering of the Iraqi people as a result of so many forms of corruption and repeated neglect,” Muqtada al-Sadr, an influential Shiite cleric and political leader in Iraq, said in a statement offering condolences.
The country’s commission of federal integrity, an independent body that deals with government accountability, highlighted what it said were shortcomings in the initial response to the fire by the interior ministry’s rescue services, saying in a statement that it would also investigate the blaze.
Iraqi 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. - Reuters and agencies.
