At least 60 people were killed and several others were injured in a massive fire in a hypermarket in al-Kut city in eastern Iraq, the state news agency (INA) reported on Thursday, citing the province's governor.
Visuals circulating on social media showed flames engulfing a five-storey building in al-Kut overnight, while firefighters were trying to contain the fire. It should be noted that the cause of the fire was not immediately known, but the governor said initial results from an investigation would be announced within 48 hours, INA reported.
"We have filed lawsuits against the owner of the building and the mall," INA quoted the governor as saying.
Iraq's Ministry of Interior said in a statement that 61 people died, most of them from suffocation, in the fire that broke out late Wednesday in the city of Kut. Among the dead were 14 charred bodies that remain unidentified, it said.
Civil defence teams were able to rescue more than 45 people who were trapped inside the building, the statement said.
The mall, which had opened only a week earlier, was in a five-story building that also contained a restaurant and supermarket.
The state-run Iraqi News Agency reported that people remained missing. Photographs and videos on local media showed the building fully engulfed in flames.
Provincial Gov Mohammed al-Mayyeh in a statement declared three days of mourning. He said the cause of the fire is under investigation but that legal cases were filed against the building owner and mall owner. He did not specify what the charges were.
“We assure the families of the innocent victims that we will not be lenient with those who were directly or indirectly responsible for this incident,” al-Mayyeh said.
The results of the preliminary investigation will be released within 48 hours, he said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani said in a statement that he had directed the interior minister to go to the site of the fire to investigate and take measures to prevent a recurrence.
