BAGHDAD,: A devastating fire at a shopping mall in Iraq’s eastern Wasit province has claimed the lives of 50 people, including women and children, according to Governor Mohammed al-Mayyeh.
The blaze broke out on Wednesday in the town of Kut. In response, Governor al-Mayyeh declared three days of mourning and announced that legal action had been initiated against both the mall’s owner and the building’s owner. He did not specify the charges but said the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
“We assure the families of the innocent victims that we will not be lenient with those directly or indirectly responsible for this tragedy,” the governor stated.
Fires caused by poor construction standards are tragically common in Iraq. In July 2021, a fire at a hospital in Nasiriyah killed between 60 and 92 people, largely due to the use of illegal and highly flammable “sandwich panel” cladding. In 2023, over 100 people died in a blaze at a wedding hall in Hamdaniya after pyrotechnics ignited ceiling panels.
