A fire broke out in a crowded wedding hall in the northern Iraqi town of Qaraqosh on Tuesday night, resulting in the deaths of over 100 people. Qaraqosh is a Christian town that had previously been occupied by the ISIS terrorist group. Firefighters worked through Wednesday morning to search the charred remains of the building, while grieving relatives gathered outside a morgue in Mosul, expressing their anguish. Mariam Khedr, one of the mourners, described the event as “hell” and awaited the return of her daughter and three young grandchildren’s bodies.
Survivors recounted that hundreds of people were attending the wedding celebration, which began after a church service earlier in the day. The fire started approximately an hour into the event when flares ignited a ceiling decoration while the bride and groom were dancing. According to Deputy Governor Hassan al-Allaf, at least 113 people have been confirmed dead. The head of the Red Crescent branch in the province stated that the final death toll is yet to be determined but is likely to be in the hundreds.
Videos shared on social media, although not verified by Reuters, depicted the moment the flares caught the decoration, triggering panic among attendees. The Iraqi Interior Ministry has issued four arrest warrants for the owners of the wedding hall, and President Abdul Latif Rashid has called for an investigation. Witnesses reported a lack of fire extinguishers and a limited number of exits in the hall, which was ill-equipped for such a disaster. Firefighters arrived at the scene approximately 30 minutes after the fire started.
Iraq has experienced several deadly fires in recent years, often attributed to negligence, lax regulations, and corruption. Two hospitals treating COVID-19 patients in Baghdad and Nassiriya were among the affected facilities in 2021, resulting in the deaths of at least 174 people. Preliminary information suggests that the highly flammable construction materials used in the wedding hall contributed to its rapid collapse.
As the community mourned, coffins were carried for burial at the cemetery in Qaraqosh. The town, predominantly Christian with a small population of Yazidi minorities, had been vacated by most residents when ISIS seized control in 2014. However, they returned in 2017 after the group was driven out. The tragic incident has cast a shadow over Qaraqosh, contrasting sharply with the jubilation witnessed during Pope Francis’ visit in 2021, when residents celebrated their return after years of terrorist occupation. The Christian population in Iraq has dwindled to approximately 300,000, down from 1.5 million before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, exacerbated by ISIS’s capture of Ninevah plains towns in 2014.