A devastating blaze ripped through the Corniche Hypermarket Mall in Kut overnight, leaving at least 61 people dead and plunging the eastern Iraqi city into mourning on Thursday.
The inferno erupted late Wednesday and burned well into the early hours, trapping dozens inside the newly opened five-storey shopping complex. Witnesses said the fire spread with alarming speed after an air conditioner reportedly exploded on the second floor, igniting nearby flammable products.
Many victims suffocated while seeking refuge in bathrooms, officials revealed, while one grief-stricken man told the press that five members of his family perished inside an elevator as they tried to flee.
The flames are believed to have started in the perfume and cosmetics section before consuming large parts of the building. Rescue officials said most casualties occurred on the mall’s upper levels, while shoppers on the ground floor managed to escape the choking smoke.
Families gathered in Kut, located about 160 kilometres southeast of Baghdad, to bury their loved ones — some laying entire households to rest. The tragedy has reignited anger over Iraq’s chronic neglect of basic safety standards in public spaces, which has led to repeated disasters in recent years.
Yasser al-Mulla, who went to the holy of Najaf to bury his relatives, told AFP “in the midst of the horror and intensity, people began to flee upwards instead of down”.
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“It is a tragedy.”
The interior ministry said in a statement that “the tragic fire claimed the lives of 61 innocent citizens, most of whom suffocated in bathrooms.”
The bodies of most victims were later laid to rest in Najaf, Iraq’s holy city located roughly 150 kilometres southwest of Kut, according to AFP reporting on the ground.
At a press briefing, Jabar al-Yassiri, a senior health official in the province, said 18 bodies remained unidentified as of late Wednesday.
An AFP correspondent described harrowing scenes inside the forensic department, where charred remains lay awaiting identification.
Among those searching for missing loved ones was 51-year-old Ali Kadhim. He spent hours moving between the gutted shopping mall and the main hospital, desperate to find any trace of his cousin, her husband, and their three children.
Standing amid the ruins as rescue teams combed through debris, with an ambulance parked nearby, Kadhim voiced his anguish: “We have no idea what happened to them.”
The province’s governor, Mohammed al-Miyahi, confirmed to state media that victims spanned all ages, including men, women, and children.
According to the interior ministry, civil defence teams managed to save over 45 people trapped inside the burning complex, which housed a restaurant and supermarket.
Meanwhile, hospitals struggled to cope with the influx of casualties. At the forensic centre, families waited in agony for word on missing relatives. Some collapsed, overwhelmed by grief.