Tragedy in Kut As Fire Rips Through Mall, Dozens Dead

A catastrophic fire broke out late Wednesday at the newly opened Hyper Mall in the eastern Iraqi city of Kut, claiming the lives of at least 60 people and leaving scores injured or missing.

The disaster has sent shockwaves through the nation, prompting a federal investigation and widespread mourning.

According to Iraq’s interior ministry, the blaze killed 61 people, many of whom died from smoke inhalation after becoming trapped in bathrooms.

Among the victims were men, women, and children, with at least 14 bodies so severely burned that they remain unidentified.

Rescue operations continued well into the early hours of Thursday, with civil defense teams managing to pull more than 45 survivors from the five-story building.

The fire reportedly began on the first floor before quickly spreading throughout the structure, which housed a restaurant and supermarket.

Although the exact cause of the blaze has not been confirmed, one survivor told reporters an air conditioning unit exploded, triggering the fire.

The mall, which had been open for just five days, was busy at the time of the incident as families gathered to escape the summer heat and power outages that plague much of Iraq during peak temperatures.

Emergency services were overwhelmed as ambulances transported the injured to nearby hospitals, which were soon inundated with patients.

Medical staff worked through the night as desperate relatives searched for loved ones.

Heart-wrenching scenes played out at local hospitals where grief-stricken families waited for news.

One man was seen wailing, pounding his chest, and crying, “Oh my father, oh my heart.”

Others collapsed in shock as ambulances arrived.

Dr. Nasir al-Quraishi, a local physician in his fifties, was among those mourning multiple family members.

“We went to the mall just for dinner,” he recounted tearfully.

“We needed a break from the heat and the power cuts.

“Then the air conditioner exploded, and there was fire everywhere.

“We couldn’t get out.”

Wasit province governor Mohammed al-Miyahi declared three days of mourning and announced legal action against the mall’s owner and construction contractor.

He called the tragedy a wake-up call for authorities to reevaluate building safety codes and enforcement.

“This is a national disaster.

“We must urgently address the lack of fire safety and prevent this from happening again,” Miyahi said in a public statement.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani echoed that sentiment, calling for a comprehensive investigation to determine the fire’s cause and to identify any negligence or violations.

He emphasized the need to address systemic safety failings that have plagued Iraq’s infrastructure for decades.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most influential religious figure in Iraq, offered his condolences to the victims’ families and called for accountability.

The fire has once again brought attention to the poor state of Iraq’s construction standards and enforcement of safety regulations.

Decades of war, corruption, and neglect have left much of the country’s public infrastructure vulnerable. Tragedies like this are far from isolated.

In September 2023, more than 100 people died in a fire at a wedding hall in northern Iraq.

Just two years earlier, in July 2021, a hospital blaze in southern Iraq killed over 60 people, most of them COVID-19 patients.

With temperatures regularly soaring to nearly 50°C (122°F) in the summer months, the risk of fire in overcrowded or poorly ventilated buildings remains high.

In this context, experts are once again urging authorities to impose stricter safety inspections and introduce enforcement mechanisms for public venues.

As the people of Kut mourn the dead, national leaders face mounting pressure to not only investigate this tragedy but to finally act on long-standing promises to improve public safety.

For many Iraqis, the horror of this latest disaster is not just in the lives lost, but in the haunting sense of déjà vu, another preventable tragedy in a country still struggling to rebuild.

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