HAMDANIYA, Iraq - A young boy on Tuesday accompanied his parents to a wedding in the Iraqi northern town of Hamdaniya but a fire engulfed the hall and he has gone missing since then.
Alex Arkan, 3, accompanied his parents and uncle to the wedding. The young boy has gone missing since then and the other three were burned to death.
Amir Ayoub is mourning the loss of his grandchild.
"We do not know anything about his fate. We have searched all hospitals, including those in Duhok. We have sent his photos [to people] but in vain. We could not find him in Erbil either," he told Rudaw.
Over a hundred people were killed and hundred of others were injured in the incident.
Silivia Salim from the same family. She lost her husband in the catastrophic incident.
They had become parents only 15 days before the tragedy. Her husband had named the child but did not have time to embrace him adequately.
The newly-born child is the only memory Silivia’s husband left for her.
"He left [home]. I thought he was out. I did not really know where he had gone. He disappeared. I called him twice or thrice before the incident but he did not respond because his phone was on mute mode. I thought I would return him with the excuse that my son was crying but he did not respond," said the mother.
"Then I checked my mobile and found out that there was a tragedy and the hall had caught fire. I called them [party-goers] but could not get the news. I asked about his whereabouts and they told me that he was fine. I prayed to God that nothing had happened to him. I did not want anything else," she added.
An estimated 1,000 were at the wedding party. As soon as they had noticed fireballs dropping from the ceiling of the hall, they en masse rushed to evacuate from the only exit door - the back kitchen door - with frightened attendants unable to open the main door.
Reporting by: Adla Bakir
