A devastating fire at a newly opened shopping center in the eastern Iraqi city of Kut killed at least 69 people Wednesday night, with most victims dying from smoke inhalation, according to Iraq’s Ministry of Interior.
The blaze engulfed the five-story Al-Kornish Hypermarket in Kut, located about 160 kilometers southeast of Baghdad in Wasit province. The shopping center, which also housed a restaurant and supermarket, had opened just seven days before the fire occurred.
Civil defense teams rescued more than 45 people who were trapped inside the burning building, the Interior Ministry reported Thursday morning. Among the 69 confirmed fatalities were 14 bodies that remained so severely burned they could not be identified. Most victims died from suffocation in the building’s bathrooms, where they had sought refuge from heavy smoke.
Video footage showed the building completely engulfed in flames, with people gathered on the rooftop as firefighters battled the blaze. Emergency responders helped evacuate people through small windows while rescue teams worked for hours to recover bodies trapped inside the charred structure.
Provincial Governor Mohammed al-Miyahi declared three days of mourning and filed legal cases against both the building owner and mall owner, though he did not specify the charges. Al-Miyahi said, “We assure the families of the innocent victims that we will not be lenient.”
The governor described the fire as a national disaster and indicated that the building owner had not implemented necessary fire safety measures when converting the structure into a shopping center. He promised to release preliminary investigation results within 48 hours.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani visited the fire site Thursday and directed the interior minister to launch an immediate investigation. Al-Sudani also requested that a fully equipped medical team be sent to support rescue efforts and extended condolences to victims’ families.
Interior Minister Abdul Amir Al-Shammari established a high-level investigative committee to identify all points of failure and responsibility, stating that any party found negligent would be held accountable.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, though an initial police report suggested the blaze began on the floor where perfumes and cosmetics were sold. Some witnesses reported an air conditioner explosion on the second floor preceded the fire’s rapid spread.
Local residents described the devastating personal toll. Dr. Nasir al-Quraishi, who lost five family members in the fire, told reporters his family had gone to the mall for dinner to escape power cuts at home. Abdul Redha Thahab, a 60-year-old Kut resident, reported that his neighbor’s entire family of six perished in the blaze.
Community members joined firefighters in battling the flames because there were insufficient fire trucks to quickly control the blaze. Witnesses criticized the building’s safety standards, noting the lack of fire extinguishing systems and emergency exit stairways.
The Kut fire continues a pattern of deadly blazes in Iraq often attributed to poor building standards and inadequate enforcement of safety regulations. In September 2023, more than 100 people died when fire swept through a wedding hall in Qaraqosh in northern Iraq after pyrotechnic devices ignited ceiling panels.
In July 2021, a hospital fire in Nasiriyah killed between 60 and 92 people in a COVID-19 isolation ward. Investigators determined that highly flammable, low-cost “sandwich panel” cladding, which is illegal in Iraq, fueled that blaze.
Another major hospital fire occurred in April 2021 at Ibn al-Khatib Hospital in Baghdad, claiming more than 80 lives when oxygen tanks exploded in a COVID-19 ward.
Search and recovery operations continued Thursday as authorities worked to locate people still reported missing from the shopping center fire. Ambulances transported casualties to local hospitals as rescue teams searched through debris and smoke damage.
The Interior Ministry characterized the incident as deeply affecting Iraq’s collective conscience and emphasized the heroic efforts of civil defense teams who rescued dozens of trapped individuals despite the severity of the situation.
Officials have not yet announced any resignations or dismissals related to the fire, stating they await the investigation’s completion before determining further actions. The preliminary findings are expected to address whether violations of fire codes or construction standards contributed to the scale of the disaster.
