At least 60 killed in Iraqi mall fire as families search for missing loved ones

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - The blaze broke out late yesterday, reportedly starting on the first floor before rapidly engulfing the building. — Picture via X

BAGHDAD, July 17 — A fire tore through a shopping mall in the eastern Iraqi city of Kut overnight, killing at least 60 people, authorities said today, as grief-stricken families searched for missing relatives.

Officials have launched an investigation into the blaze, the latest in a country where safety regulations are frequently neglected.

At least two people told AFP they lost five relatives who had gone to the newly opened Hyper Mall for shopping and dinner.

“The tragic fire claimed the lives of 61 innocent citizens, most of whom suffocated in bathrooms, and among them, 14 charred bodies yet to be identified,” the interior ministry said in a statement.

Wasit province governor Mohammed al-Miyahi told the official INA news agency that the victims include men, women and children.

A medical source in Kut told AFP there were “many unidentified bodies”.

Rescuers were still searching for the missing, an AFP correspondent reported from the scene.

Civil defence teams rescued more than 45 people who were trapped inside the five-storey building, which includes a restaurant and a supermarket, the interior ministry said.

The blaze broke out late yesterday, reportedly starting on the first floor before rapidly engulfing the building.

The cause was not immediately known, but one survivor told AFP an air conditioner had exploded.

Ambulances were still ferrying casualties to hospitals as late as 4:00 am, with wards in Kut—around 160 kilometres (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad—overwhelmed.

An AFP correspondent said the mall had only opened five days earlier and reported seeing charred bodies at the province’s forensic department.

Though the fire was eventually contained, firefighters continued searching for missing victims.

Videos posted on social media showed distraught relatives waiting at the hospital for news, some collapsing in grief.

One man sat on the ground, pounding his chest and crying out, “Oh my father, oh my heart”.

Dozens of people gathered outside the hospital checking ambulances as they arrived, some of them overcome with emotion.

‘We couldn’t escape’

One of them, Nasir al-Quraishi, a doctor in his 50s, said he lost five family members in the fire.

“A disaster has befallen us,” he told AFP. “We went to the mall to have some food, eat dinner and escape power cuts at home.

“An air conditioner exploded on the second floor and then the fire erupted—and we couldn’t escape.” Governor Miyahi declared three days of mourning and said local authorities would file a lawsuit against the mall’s owner and the building contractor.

“The tragedy is a major shock... and requires a serious review of all safety measures,” he said.

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered a “thorough probe” into the fire to identify “shortcomings” and prevent further incidents.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Shiite Islam’s highest authority in Iraq, offered condolences to the victims’ families.

Safety standards in Iraq’s 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.

Fires increase during the blistering summer as temperatures approach 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).

In September 2023, a fire killed at least 100 people when it ripped through a crowded Iraqi wedding hall, sparking a panicked stampede for the exits.

In July 2021, a fire in the Covid unit of a hospital in southern Iraq killed more than 60 people. — AFP