The Bride And Groom Did Not Die In The Hall Fire In Iraq
The Claim
The bride and groom died during the hall fire in Northern Iraq.
News posted on
Emerging story
Following the news of the fire that broke out in a wedding hall in Iraq killing tens of attendees, a number of news outlets along with social media users claimed that the bride and groom were also among the dead.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the circulating claim and found it to be fake.
The Bride And Groom From the Iraqi Wedding Fire Are Still Alive
According to reports by local outlets, the bride and groom did not die due to the fire at their wedding and are alive.
AlawlaTv channel interviewed one of the attendees of the wedding who took some of the injured to the hospital. He confirmed that the the bride and groom are both alive, but they are psychologically in an unstable state because of the incident.
A day after the fire, Hamdaniya Hospital was asked by 946media about the state of the newlyweds. A medical source reported that the newlyweds were alive and that they were slightly injured due to the fire.
Furthermore, Al Jazeera shared a video on YouTube of the bride and groom at the funeral of the victims, crying and mourning their families.
How Did The Hamadaniya Fire Break Out?
The minister of interior, Abdul Amir Al-Shammari, said that the fire broke out in a huge hall in Hamadaniya city after igniting fireworks during the wedding, causing the ceiling to burn and collapse over the attendees. Ultimately, the fire raced through the hall, causing a terrible fire. According to the Iraqi civil defense authorities, the hall was built of prefabricated panels that are “highly flammable and contravened safety standards.” Moreover, the combustion of the panels, which contained plastic, caused the release of toxic gases
Preliminary investigations confirmed that the lack of corridors, emergency exits, and building materials that did not meet the correct standards and directives for safety, in addition to the large number of attendees, were also among the reasons for this tragedy. Nineveh's deputy governor, Hassan Al-Alaq, confirmed that the number of victims has reached 113, and it may rise.
It is worth mentioning that the civil defense warned that this incident could happen again at any other hall in Iraq.
The Results Of The Iraqi Wedding Tragedy Investigations Are Yet To Be Announced
Officials in the Iraqi government announced that 14 people were detained for interrogations about the fire, the owner of the hall is among them. They promised that the results will be announced within 72 hours of holding the investigations.
The government also ordered that huge public places like hotels, schools, and hospitals, should be inspected immediately. This comes especially after the previous incidents that left hundreds of victims throughout the last years in Iraq, such as the fire in Ibn Alkhatib Hospital, Al-Hussein Hospital, and other buildings that were built with materials that do not meet the standards and directives for safety.
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