The Iraqi Council of Ministers announced compensation for the victims of the fire that broke out during a wedding in Mosul, which led to the death and injury of hundreds of people.
In parallel, Prime Minister Mohammad Shiaa Al-Sudani ordered the harshest penalties to be imposed on officials of administrative units in Nineveh Governorate as a result of negligence that caused the fire.
The tragic incident was ignited by fireworks within the venue hall, and led to the loss of at least one hundred lives in the town of Qaraqosh, part of Al-Hamdaniya district.
Local medical reports suggested that the number of fatalities might exceed 120 individuals, who lost their lives due to severe burns or suffocation.
During a visit on Thursday to the district, Sudani held the venue’s owners and supervisory authorities responsible for the disaster.
The Iraqi premier attended a meeting at the headquarters of the Nineveh Operations Command, before visiting the injured at the Republican Hospital, where he listened to the families of the victims and asked the hospital officials to provide all treatment requirements without delay, and to immediately transfer critical cases outside Iraq for recovery.
For its part, the Iraqi Council of Ministers issued an order to form a committee to compensate the families of the victims with IQD 10 million for the deceased and IQD 5 million for the injured.
On Wednesday, Sudani declared general mourning throughout Iraq, for a period of three days.
The Iraqi government announced its intention to take strict measures to re-examine all wedding halls and buildings that were constructed using flammable sandwich panels, which are widely utilized in Iraq as part of a solution to the housing crisis.
Meanwhile, the owner of the venue surrendered himself to the authorities in the Kurdistan region at dawn on Thursday, after escaping from Mosul on the night of the incident for fear of revenge. The security authorities arrested about nine persons, including organizers, who had decorated the venue with flammable materials and had allowed fireworks to be brought into the hall.
