PHOTOS: Fire burns house in Rania, kills three

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A fire broke out at a house in the Kurdistan Region’s town of Rania on Friday early morning, killing and injuring seven people.

The blaze erupted around 2:00 am, Friday early morning, in the Raparin neighborhood, Mohammed Mahmoud, a relative and neighbor of the victims, told Kurdistan 24.

A 70-year-old woman died of asphyxiation at the scene, trapped inside the house and unable to find an exit, Mahmoud said.

The fire burned and injured six other family members. The burn victims were immediately transferred to a Sulaimani hospital as there are no local hospitals in Raparin.

Mohammed Khalid, five-year-olds, passed away from his injuries on Friday, raising the number of casualties to two, Hussein Abdullah, the spokesperson for Rania’s Civil Defense team, told Kurdistan 24.

Neighbors claimed the fire broke out after a cell phone blew up while being charged overnight and left on the couch.

Abdullah, however, said it was due to a short-circuit in the outlet where the cell phone was being charged.

By Friday afternoon, a third family member named Gashtiyar Khalid, aged 14, died of his injuries, a health source from the hospital in Sulaimani told Kurdistan 24.

Editing by Nadia Riva

(Additional reporting by Aras Amin)