Fire breaks out in Erbil mall damaging scores of businesses

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A shopping center in Erbil went up in flames in the early morning hours on Friday, causing scores of businesses to suffer damage, with no clear cause in sight. 

Hawler Mall, a shopping center located on 30 Meter Road in the capital of the Kurdistan Region, caught fire at about five in the morning, according to Rudaw reporters. 

"There were approximately 300 to 400 thousand dollars-worth of products in this store," said Farman Abdullah, one of the owners of the largest retailer in the mall. "I'm now in debt because of this situation.”

"Since our childhood, we've worked so we can become owners of this [shop]," cried Muhammad Ibrahim, the other owner of the retail store. "It's all gone now."

Shop owners mentioned this was the third time the mall had caught fire. However, their calls for establishing a fire-prevention system fell on deaf ears.

Another shopkeeper complained there was no fire-prevention system active in the shopping mall.

One merchant noticed that only one security individual was present in the shopping center. 

Several shops were totally destroyed, and scores more suffered minor damages.

The spokesperson of Erbil's civil defense, Sarkawt Karrash said, "Only five shops were totally destroyed," and the others suffered partial damage.  Around 20 shops were affected. 

The civil defense spokesperson announced they were unable to find out the initial cause of the fire at the time, as investigations are still ongoing. In addition, security cameras at the mall have been examined to determine what caused the fire.