World

More than 100 dead in Iraq wedding blaze after ‘firework was set off before bride and groom’s slow dance’

At least 100 people have died and 150 been injured in a fire at a wedding celebration in Iraq’s Nineveh province, state media has reported

The fire ripped through a large events hall in the north-eastern region after fireworks were lit during the celebration, local civil defence said, according to state media.

Video from the site shows firefighters clambering over the charred wreckage of the building in search of survivors.

Preliminary information indicated that the building was made of highly flammable construction materials, contributing to
its rapid collapse, state media said.

Ambulances and medical crews were dispatched to the site by federal Iraqi authorities and authorities in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, according to official statements.

“All our hospitals are preparing to receive the wounded,” Dr. Bashar Jader, spokesman for the Nineveh General Directorate of Health, told the Rudaw news site in the country.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

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