At least 61 people have been killed after a fire swept through a newly opened shopping mall in the eastern Iraqi city of Kut. The blaze broke out late Wednesday at the five-storey Corniche Hypermarket Mall, with most victims reported to have suffocated in bathrooms. Authorities say 14 charred bodies are yet to be identified.
Officials say many families were inside shopping or dining when the fire began, with some victims found in lifts and others trapped on the roof. The cause of the fire is yet to be confirmed, though one survivor said it may have started with an air conditioner explosion.
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Civil defence teams rescued over 45 people from the burning building, which housed a supermarket and a restaurant. At least 40 people were also injured, and the main hospital in Kut was overwhelmed by the influx of victims.
Local authorities say the dead include men, women and children. Distraught relatives gathered at hospitals and the province’s forensic department, many searching for missing family members. Some eyewitnesses reported seeing entire families among the casualties.
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