ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s interior ministry on Wednesday announced the arrest of 14 individuals in relation to the tragic fire incident in Nineveh province’s Hamdaniya district the night before, adding that the findings of the investigations will be announced within 72 hours.
The owner of the banquet hall and nine other members of the venue’s staff are among the arrested, according to a statement from the ministry, in addition to three involved in lighting the fireworks which led to the tragedy.
Iraq's Interior Minister Abdul-Amir al-Shammari said that the findings of the investigations will be reported to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani within 72 hours to hold the “negligent ones” accountable, the statement added.
Over a hundred people lost their lives and hundreds more were injured late Tuesday when a fire erupted inside a banquet hall hosting a packed wedding in the Assyrian Christian-majority district of Hamdaniya, around 45 kilometers southeast of Iraq’s second-largest northern city of Mosul.
Funeral processions for dozens of the victims were held in Hamdaniya on Wednesday and Thursday.
Sudani arrived in Hamdaniya on Thursday morning to assess the aftermath of the tragic incident. The Iraqi prime minister also visited the injured in the district’s al-Jamhuri Hospital and met with their families.
Iraqi Minister of Migration and Displaced Evan Faeq Jabro on Thursday told reporters that the first batch of the injured is set to be sent to Turkey to receive treatment.
The blaze was triggered by fireworks directed at a highly-flammable ceiling built with a plastic material deemed illegal by the Iraqi government.
“Ongoing investigations confirm the lack of safety and security conditions in the hall, which contained about (900) people during the incident,” read the statement from the interior ministry.
Hamdaniya Mayor Issam Bahnam told Rudaw on Wednesday that the owner of the banquet hall had previously been alerted that the material used in the building was illegal due to its flammability, and was asked to remove it, but stressed that the material was yet to be illegalized when the building was initially built in 2012.
Iraq on Wednesday announced a three-day mourning period across the country for the victims of the tragic blaze, a call that was soon echoed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Iraq is known for frequent fires during the summertime. Iraq’s civil defense directorate in August announced that they had recorded more than 19,000 fire incidents across all Iraqi provinces, excluding the Kurdistan Region, since the start of the year. Over 32,000 fires were reported in 2022.
