14 ARRESTS
On the church, which Pope Francis visited in March 2021, most of the bereaved sobbed quietly, joined by a number of survivors with bandaged wounds.
Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, who has declared three days of nationwide mourning, travelled to the province on Thursday to go to “the injured and the households of the victims”, his workplace mentioned.
Anger has flared over the excessive dying toll, which authorities have blamed partially on poorly noticed security laws, an inadequate variety of hearth exits and using extremely flammable constructing supplies.
Authorities have arrested 14 folks – the venue’s proprietor and 10 staff in addition to three folks suspected of getting set off the fireworks, the inside minister mentioned.
Security requirements are sometimes poorly noticed in Iraq, a rustic nonetheless recovering from many years of dictatorship, battle and unrest that continues to be affected by corruption, mismanagement and infrequently dilapidated infrastructure.
In 2021, dozens of individuals have been killed in two separate fires that each raged via hospital wards.
A earlier main tragedy struck Mosul in 2019, when at the very least 100 folks, largely ladies and kids, died when an overcrowded ferry sank within the Tigris river.
“JOY TO SADNESS”
Among the many mourners on the Al-Tahera church was Riad Bahnam, 53, who got here to wish for his sister-in-law and his six-year-old great-niece, who each died within the flames.
He likened the hearth catastrophe to “the tragedy of the boat in Mosul” and mentioned the marriage had been a second of “pleasure which was unhappiness and anger”.
Bahnam voiced anger on the “human error” he blamed for the lethal tragedy that heaped struggling on the small group.
Any official “who has dedicated negligence in giving the required authorisations to the proprietor can also be accountable,” he charged.
“They’re purported to demand compliance with security requirements.”
