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  • 2 days ago
#Iraq
#Kut
#BBCNews
A fire that tore through a five-storey shopping centre in the Iraqi city of Kut has killed at least 60 people, officials said.

The fire at the mall, which opened seven days ago, broke out on Wednesday night and has since been brought under control.

Firefighters were seen rescuing people from the mall's roof, while state media reported that many are still missing.

The regional governor has also declared three days of mourning.

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#Iraq #Kut #BBCNews
Transcript
00:00A huge fire at a newly opened hypermarket in Al-Qut in Iraq has killed over 60 people,
00:06including women and children. The five-storey complex in the eastern city had only opened last
00:11week. Videos circulating on social media show firefighters trying to contain an enormous blaze
00:17that spread quickly through the building. They did rescue more than 45 people, but there are
00:22others, we're told, who are still unaccounted for. The provincial governor, Mohammed al-Mahir,
00:27has declared three days of mourning and says an investigation is underway. BBC Arabic
00:32correspondent Sally Nabil is following the story from Cairo. The death toll has risen to 67 people,
00:4067 people lost their lives in this fire and the sea, the pictures we are watching from the scene is
00:49really harrowing. The whole mall has been reduced to just a charred building and this mall was just
00:56open a few days ago and that caused a lot of people to be angry and posing lots of questions
01:03on social media about the adequate security measures put in place, whether or not there were
01:10emergency exits, whether the government has followed the proper safety regulations when building such a
01:21mall or when having to oversee whether this mall is safe enough for the people to go and do shopping or
01:28not. Lots of angry questions and we are waiting for the investigation to find out what exactly
01:34happened. But we also know that there are still a number of missing people and search operations are
01:40going on. The local governor said we are we expect to have the results of the investigation in 48 hours.
01:47But generally speaking, in the Arab world, official investigations, they are not very conclusive
01:52and they are not very well trusted by the public.
01:55Salih Nabil reporting there in Cairo.

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