UAE leaders extend condolences to President of Iraq over victims of wedding hall fire
Mourners react during the funeral of victims of the fatal fire at a wedding celebration, in Hamdaniya, Iraq, on Thursday. Reuters
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court, sent similar condolence messages to the President of Iraq.
Meanwhile, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has expressed its sincere condolences and solidarity with the Republic of Iraq over the victims of the fire in Nineveh province, which resulted in hundreds of deaths and injuries.
In a statement, the MoFA expressed its sincere condolences and sympathy to the Iraqi government and people, and to the families of the victims of this tragedy. It also wished a speedy recovery for all the injured.
Earlier during the day, Iraq's prime minister on Thursday visited injured patients and the families of victims in northern Iraq days after a deadly wedding fire killed around 100 people, as two more people died from their injuries and additional remains were recovered.
Mohammed Shia Al Sudani arrived in Nineveh province early on Thursday with a delegation of ministers and security officials, state television reported. He met with the wounded and family members of victims at Hamdaniyah Hospital and Al-Jumhoori Hospital. He later visited the Syriac Catholic Mar Behnam Monastery to express his condolences to victims.
Around 250 panicked guests surged for the exits on Tuesday night in the Haitham Royal Wedding Hall in the predominantly Christian area of Hamdaniya near Mosul after the ceiling panels above a pyrotechnic machine burst into flames.
Two critically burned victims — a 30-year-old woman and a 4-year-old child — died from their injuries in the hospital, a health official told The Associated Press on Thursday. The remains of a child and a woman were also recovered under the rubble at the wedding venue, according to a security official. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Authorities said around 100 people died in the incident, and the death toll is expected to rise further with at least 100 other people still injured, many of them critically burned.
