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At least 114 people have died and more than 200 others have been injured by a fire this morning in a party hall where a mass wedding was being held in the province of Nineveh, in northern Iraq, according to a “preliminary balance” of the authorities, although the Red Crescent of that country raises the death toll to 450 people.
“The death toll is 114 and there are more than 200 injured,” the governor of Nineveh, Najm al Jubori, told the press.
According to emergency services, the fire was probably caused by the use of fireworks in the premises, whose construction materials were also “highly flammable.” The combination of these two factors caused the flames that engulfed the sumptuous reception venue where hundreds of guests had gathered for a wedding in the small Christian town of Qaraqosh, also known as Hamdaniyah, east of Mosul.
The country’s Prime Minister, Mohamed Shia al Sudani, has ordered the mobilization of all resources to help those affected. For its part, the Iraqi Ministry of Health said that “the situation is under control” and that it is using “all its capabilities” to care for the wounded, who are being treated in several hospitals in both Nineveh and Kurdistan, according to the governor. Al Jubouri.
Furthermore, he assured that “there is no definitive statistic for the number of dead or injured” and, after a telephone call with Prime Minister Al Sudani, the authorities have stated that “all efforts are being made to help those affected by an unfortunate accident.”
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