PM Barzani reiterates ‘readiness’ to provide any necessary aid to victims of wedding fire   

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Wednesday extended his condolences to the families of Hamdaniya wedding fire victims and reiterated his government’s “readiness” to provide any necessary help to the wounded.

The deadly incident has “deeply saddened me”, Barzani wrote in a social media post released on Facebook, extending his condolences to the families of victims and wishing a speedy recovery for the wounded.

The premier ordered the health emergency teams in the early hours of the incident to be quickly deployed to the scene, where hundreds of people were rushed to hospitals in Mosul and nearby areas.

At least 100 people have been killed so far while more than 150 others are wounded by the deadly inferno that quickly engulfed a wedding hall in the Christian-majority town of Hamdaniya in Mosul province.

Kurdistan Region ambulances have transferred at least 35 burn victims to Erbil Emergency Hospital in Erbil for medical treatment.

“I reiterate our readiness to provide any necessary help,” Barzani wrote in the statement.

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani also offered his condolences to the families of the victims.

“At this painful and difficult time, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, and we are ready for any possible assistance,” President Barzani wrote.

The Iraqi minister of interior and Mosul governor visited the fire-stricken wedding hall in the town.

“Shocked and pained by the horrible loss of life and injuries in the fire in Ninewa’s Hamdaniya,” the United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) wrote in a statement on Wednesday. The organization similarly offered its condolences over the tragedy.

Shocked and pained by the horrible loss of life and injuries in the fire in Ninewa’s Hamdaniya. An immense tragedy. Our sincere condolences to the families who lost loved ones. We wish the injured a speedy recovery.#Iraq pic.twitter.com/Fxw1u4BZ4J

— UNAMI (@UNIraq) September 27, 2023

While the bride and groom were performing a dance in front of the guests, flames caught the ceiling, and the entire hall was engulfed in fire in “two minutes”, a survivor who sustained a burn to his hands, recalled to Kurdistan 24 in Erbil.

The Iraqi government declared a three-day mourning over the tragedy. Mosul Province will have a week-long mourning period. 

Low-quality construction materials are often cited as the exacerbating cause of the deadly fires that Iraq has witnessed in recent years.

At least 44 people were killed by another fire at a COVID-19 war in 2021 in Baghdad.

Qaraqosh or Hamdaniya is a Christian-majority town in eastern Nineveh Plains, where the Islamic State militants ransacked in 2014.