- At least 100 people killed and more than 150 injured after the fire broke out
- The dead are already being buried in a cemetery a mile north of Qaraqosh, Iraq
- Hundreds of mourners saw off 42 coffins at the cemetery
Family members have already begun burying more than 100 people who tragically died in an inferno that raged through a wedding in Iraq.
Young newlywed couple Haneen and Revan are feared to have been killed along with at least 110 of their wedding guests after the blaze, believed to have been started by fireworks, tore through the large hall in the northern town of Qaraqosh near Mosul on Tuesday night.
Hundreds of mourners gathered at the Cemetery of the Resurrection, just over a mile north of the town, to bid their last farewells to many of the blaze’s victims.
Many were seen carrying pictures of their deceased loved ones, including young children, as a procession carrying 42 coffins slowly marched through the cemetery, which lies in a predominantly Christian part of Iraq.
Others were seen carrying depictions of Jesus Christ during the procession.
The Immaculate Church, a local parish in the town, said in a Facebook post that the funeral procession took place at 4pm local time today.
The mass funeral appeared to be open to everyone, with the church writing in the post: ‘We ask the families of the victims to deliver the bodies to the cemetery at 3:30 pm.’
![Mourners carry a coffin of a victim of the fatal fire of a wedding celebration, during the funeral in Hamdaniya, Iraq, on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/17/75901125-12567329-image-a-1_1695833064003.jpg)
Mourners carry a coffin of a victim of the fatal fire of a wedding celebration, during the funeral in Hamdaniya, Iraq, on Wednesday
![Whole families are understood to have perished in the devastating blaze](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/17/75901123-12567329-image-a-3_1695833072972.jpg)
Whole families are understood to have perished in the devastating blaze
![The funeral saw 42 coffins being taken to the Cemetery of the Resurrection, just over a mile north of the town](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/16/75897111-12566191-Hundreds_of_people_attend_the_funeral_of_victims_of_the_fatal_fi-a-27_1695827502494.jpg)
The funeral saw 42 coffins being taken to the Cemetery of the Resurrection, just over a mile north of the town
![The Cemetery of the Resurrection lies about a mile north of Qaraqosh](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/18/75903133-12567329-image-a-1_1695834687171.jpg)
The Cemetery of the Resurrection lies about a mile north of Qaraqosh
![Workers are still searching the embers of the burned building](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/17/75901129-12567329-image-a-2_1695833066407.jpg)
Workers are still searching the embers of the burned building
![Unbeknownst to newlyweds Haneen and Revan, this was to be their final picture together before a raging inferno swept through their Christian wedding in Iraq today](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/08/75880523-12564285-image-m-4_1695800487862.jpg)
Unbeknownst to newlyweds Haneen and Revan, this was to be their final picture together before a raging inferno swept through their Christian wedding in Iraq today
![Civil defence officials quoted by the Iraqi News Agency described the wedding hall's exterior as being decorated with highly flammable cladding that is illegal in the country](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/00/75870031-12564285-image-a-1_1695771658217.jpg)
Civil defence officials quoted by the Iraqi News Agency described the wedding hall’s exterior as being decorated with highly flammable cladding that is illegal in the country
Video purportedly shows the newlyweds slow-dancing in the hall moments before the blaze tore through the large hall in the Christian town, which had survived ISIS occupation.
Hanneen, wearing a large white wedding dress, turns around in horror to see flames rapidly climbing the walls before burning material falls from the roof.
Chaos ensues, with the up to 900 panicked guests rushing towards the exits as the hall is engulfed in flames and filled with toxic smoke in seconds. Survivors said many were left trapped in the burning building as they couldn’t see through the black smoke.
The bride and groom were among the more than 100 people killed in the deadly blaze according to health officials, while 150 more are injured – 50 critically. But there are conflicting reports about their wellbeing, with some others saying the couple were injured rather than killed in the blaze.
Nineveh province Deputy Governor Hassan al-Allaf said 113 people had been confirmed dead whilst the head of the province’s Red Crescent branch said the death toll was not final but that it ‘exceeds hundreds injured and dozens killed’.
‘I lost my daughter, her husband and their 3 year-old. They were all burned. My heart is burning,’ a woman said outside the morgue, where bodies lay outside in bags as vehicles came to collect those that had been identified.
![This image shows the wedding moments before the blaze](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/00/75870029-12564285-image-a-2_1695771666746.jpg)
This image shows the wedding moments before the blaze
![A firefighter checks the damage in an event hall in Qaraqosh, also known as Hamdaniyah, after a fire broke out during a wedding, killing at least 100 people on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/12/75888185-12566191-image-a-23_1695814917538.jpg)
A firefighter checks the damage in an event hall in Qaraqosh, also known as Hamdaniyah, after a fire broke out during a wedding, killing at least 100 people on Wednesday
![Burned objects belonging to guests of the wedding continue to be found](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/20/75907989-12567329-image-a-44_1695844616612.jpg)
Burned objects belonging to guests of the wedding continue to be found
![A victim lies at a hospital following a fatal fire at a wedding celebration in the district of Hamdaniya on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/12/75888121-12566191-image-a-24_1695814941495.jpg)
A victim lies at a hospital following a fatal fire at a wedding celebration in the district of Hamdaniya on Wednesday
A man called Youssef stood nearby with burns covering his hands and face. He said he had not been able to see anything when the fire began and the power cut out. He had grabbed his 3 year-old grandson and managed to get out.
But his wife, Bashra Mansour, in her 50s, did not make it. She fell in the chaos and died.
Hundreds of wedding guests, many of them children, were rushed to hospital with severe burns across their bodies, with many fighting for their lives.
Wedding guest Rania Waad, who sustained a burn to her hand, said that as Haneen and Revan ‘were slow dancing, the fireworks started to climb to the ceiling and the whole hall went up in flames’.
‘We couldn’t see anything,’ the 17-year-old said, choking back sobs. ‘We were suffocating, we didn’t know how to get out.’
Other wedding guests also said that the blaze was caused by fireworks, which had been set off during the first dance.
A man injured in the fire, speaking from his hospital bed, said: ‘They lit up fireworks. It hit the ceiling, which caught fire. The entire hall was on fire in seconds.’
![Family members are overcome with grief during a funeral of victims of the fatal fire at a cemetary in Hamdanya in Iraq on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/14/75894089-12566191-image-a-41_1695822372567.jpg)
Family members are overcome with grief during a funeral of victims of the fatal fire at a cemetary in Hamdanya in Iraq on Wednesday
![The bride and groom were among the more than 100 people killed in the deadly blaze according to health officials, while 150 more are injured - 50 critically](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/20/75908015-12567329-image-a-45_1695844681774.jpg)
The bride and groom were among the more than 100 people killed in the deadly blaze according to health officials, while 150 more are injured – 50 critically
![Panicked guests began running out of the burning building, but over 100 were trapped inside](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/20/75908033-12567329-image-a-46_1695844686448.jpg)
Panicked guests began running out of the burning building, but over 100 were trapped inside
![Mourners are overcome with emotion during the funeral of victims of the fatal fire of a wedding celebration, in Hamdaniya on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/14/75894087-12566191-image-a-50_1695822658121.jpg)
Mourners are overcome with emotion during the funeral of victims of the fatal fire of a wedding celebration, in Hamdaniya on Wednesday
![Rana Yakoub, 27, a victim of the fire is pictured, after a wedding celebration disaster, in the district of Hamdaniya in Mosul on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/12/75889621-12566191-Rana_Yakoub_27_a_victim_of_the_fire_is_pictured_after_a_wedding_-m-40_1695815243271.jpg)
Rana Yakoub, 27, a victim of the fire is pictured, after a wedding celebration disaster, in the district of Hamdaniya in Mosul on Wednesday
![Priests were seen giving last rites to the victims of the blaze](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/21/75908623-12567329-image-a-2_1695845631571.jpg)
Priests were seen giving last rites to the victims of the blaze
![A victim of the fatal fire at a wedding celebration lies at a hospital in Erbil, Iraq, on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/14/75894095-12566191-image-a-45_1695822418685.jpg)
A victim of the fatal fire at a wedding celebration lies at a hospital in Erbil, Iraq, on Wednesday
![A victim of the fatal fire at a wedding celebration lies at a hospital in Erbil, Iraq, on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/14/75894097-12566191-image-a-46_1695822422073.jpg)
A victim of the fatal fire at a wedding celebration lies at a hospital in Erbil, Iraq, on Wednesday
![A child victim of the fatal fire at a wedding celebration lies at a hospital in Erbil, Iraq, on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/14/75894107-12566191-image-a-48_1695822435932.jpg)
A child victim of the fatal fire at a wedding celebration lies at a hospital in Erbil, Iraq, on Wednesday
![Firefighters work at the site of a fatal fire, in the district of Hamdaniya, Nineveh province, Iraq, on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/14/75894479-12566191-image-a-51_1695822732204.jpg)
Firefighters work at the site of a fatal fire, in the district of Hamdaniya, Nineveh province, Iraq, on Wednesday
Witnesses said the wedding hall caught fire at around 10.45pm local time (8.45pm UK time) during the couple’s first dance.
Video shows wedding guests dancing together before the newlyweds walked onto the dance floor.
Harrowing footage shows Haneen resting her head against Revan while he holds her waist as they share their first dance. But within minutes, the wedding turned into a nightmare as the blaze broke out, sending shards of burning material to the ground around them.
Panicked guests began running out of the burning building, but over 100 were trapped inside and died of burns and smoke inhalation.
‘We saw the fire pulsating, coming out of the hall. Those who managed got out and those who didn’t got stuck,’ said Imad Yohana, a 34-year-old who escaped the inferno.
Chaotic scenes were seen outside the building, with screaming guests crying for help from medics who had quickly arrived on the scene.
Injured wedding guests were later seen lying in hospital beds with bandages covering the burns they sustained in the horrific blaze.
Ahmed Dubardani, a health official in the province, said: ‘The majority of them were completely burned and some others had 50 to 60 per cent of their bodies burned.
‘This is not good at all. The majority of them were not in good condition.’
In the blaze’s aftermath, only charred metal and debris could be seen as emergency crews sifted through the scene of utter devastation.
![Mourners were overcome with grief as they said goodbye to their deceased loved ones](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/20/75908013-12567329-image-a-47_1695844697002.jpg)
Mourners were overcome with grief as they said goodbye to their deceased loved ones
![A woman cries during the funeral of a victim of the fatal fire during the wedding celebrations on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/16/75897145-12566191-A_woman_cries_during_the_funeral_of_a_victim_of_the_fatal_fire_d-a-28_1695827502495.jpg)
A woman cries during the funeral of a victim of the fatal fire during the wedding celebrations on Wednesday
![A woman cries during the funeral of a victim of the fatal fire during the wedding celebrations on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/16/75897105-12566191-A_woman_cries_during_the_funeral_of_a_victim_of_the_fatal_fire_d-a-29_1695827502495.jpg)
A woman cries during the funeral of a victim of the fatal fire during the wedding celebrations on Wednesday
![Mourners donned black clothes to bid farewell to their loved ones](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/20/75908023-12567329-image-a-48_1695844701288.jpg)
Mourners donned black clothes to bid farewell to their loved ones
![Hundreds of people attend the funeral of victims of the fatal fire of a wedding celebration, in Hamdanya, Iraq, on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/16/75897115-12566191-Hundreds_of_people_attend_the_funeral_of_victims_of_the_fatal_fi-a-30_1695827502495.jpg)
Hundreds of people attend the funeral of victims of the fatal fire of a wedding celebration, in Hamdanya, Iraq, on Wednesday
![Hundreds of people attend the funeral of victims of the fatal fire of a wedding celebration, in Hamdanya, Iraq, on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/16/75897107-12566191-Hundreds_of_people_attend_the_funeral_of_victims_of_the_fatal_fi-a-31_1695827502496.jpg)
Hundreds of people attend the funeral of victims of the fatal fire of a wedding celebration, in Hamdanya, Iraq, on Wednesday
![Iraqi security officials inspect the site of the fire on Wednesday in Qaraqosh, near Mosul, Iraq](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/07/75878575-12564285-image-a-11_1695795824121.jpg)
Iraqi security officials inspect the site of the fire on Wednesday in Qaraqosh, near Mosul, Iraq
![This picture shows the burnt out interior of an event hall in Qaraqosh where the fire broke out during the wedding on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/08/75880719-12564285-image-a-10_1695800674963.jpg)
This picture shows the burnt out interior of an event hall in Qaraqosh where the fire broke out during the wedding on Wednesday
![An injured child lies on a hospital bed after a fire broke out at a wedding celebration in the northern Nineveh province](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/07/75878553-12564285-image-a-6_1695795662312.jpg)
An injured child lies on a hospital bed after a fire broke out at a wedding celebration in the northern Nineveh province
![An injured man lies on a hospital bed after a fire broke out at the wedding ceremony, killing at least 100 people](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/07/75878563-12564285-image-a-7_1695795671227.jpg)
An injured man lies on a hospital bed after a fire broke out at the wedding ceremony, killing at least 100 people
![The charred remains of chairs are seen in the gutted out wedding hall on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/08/75880489-12564285-image-a-2_1695800207513.jpg)
The charred remains of chairs are seen in the gutted out wedding hall on Wednesday
![People gather at the site of a fatal fire on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/08/75880487-12564285-image-a-1_1695800204553.jpg)
People gather at the site of a fatal fire on Wednesday
![.](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/08/75881023-12564285-image-m-14_1695801098556.jpg)
![.](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/08/75881027-12564285-image-a-15_1695801106295.jpg)
Video shows tables covered with white cloths set under chandeliers at the hall before the wedding ceremony turned into one of nightmares
![Firefighters check the damage in an event hall in Qaraqosh after a fire broke out during a wedding on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/08/75880535-12564285-image-a-5_1695800522857.jpg)
Firefighters check the damage in an event hall in Qaraqosh after a fire broke out during a wedding on Wednesday
![An injured child lays on a hospital bed after a fire broke out at a wedding celebration on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/08/75880757-12564285-image-a-7_1695800616637.jpg)
An injured child lays on a hospital bed after a fire broke out at a wedding celebration on Wednesday
![An injured child lays on a hospital bed after a fire broke out at a wedding celebration on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/08/75880755-12564285-image-a-8_1695800619127.jpg)
An injured child lays on a hospital bed after a fire broke out at a wedding celebration on Wednesday
![People gather around a truck carrying body bags after a fire broke out during the wedding](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/08/75880737-12564285-image-a-9_1695800624675.jpg)
People gather around a truck carrying body bags after a fire broke out during the wedding
![People walk past an event hall in Qaraqosh where a fire broke out during a wedding on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/08/75880533-12564285-image-a-6_1695800524623.jpg)
People walk past an event hall in Qaraqosh where a fire broke out during a wedding on Wednesday
![A view of the destroyed wedding hall in the northern Nineveh province in Mosul, Iraq, on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/07/75878579-12564285-image-a-4_1695795571361.jpg)
A view of the destroyed wedding hall in the northern Nineveh province in Mosul, Iraq, on Wednesday
![People gather at the site of a fatal fire at a wedding celebration with the charred remains of the building seen within on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/07/75878543-12564285-People_gather_at_the_site_of_a_fatal_fire_at_a_wedding_celebrati-a-5_1695795611943.jpg)
People gather at the site of a fatal fire at a wedding celebration with the charred remains of the building seen within on Wednesday
While there is no official word on the cause of the blaze, footage showed fireworks shooting up from the floor of the event and setting a chandelier aflame, which echoes the testimony of injured wedding guests.
This was made worse by the wedding hall’s exterior being decorated with ‘highly flammable’ cladding that is illegal in Iraq, civil defence officials quoted by the Iraqi News Agency said.
The danger was compounded by the ‘release of toxic gases linked to the combustion of the panels’, which contained plastic, they said.
‘The fire caused some parts of the ceiling to fall due to the use of highly flammable, low-cost construction materials,’ the civil defence authorities said, with ‘preliminary information’ suggesting fireworks were to blame for the blaze.
The Interior Ministry said it had issued four arrest warrants for the owners of the wedding hall, state media reported, and President Abdul Latif Rashid called for an investigation.
Three people who attended the wedding said the hall appeared poorly equipped for the disaster with no visible fire extinguishers, few exits, and draped in flammable material that one said lit ‘like petrol’. Fire fighters arrived 30 minutes after the blaze began, they said.
Most residents of Qaraqosh, which is mostly Christian but also home to some members of Iraq’s Yazidi minority, fled the town when Islamic State seized it in 2014. But they returned after the group was ousted in 2017.
At Mar Youhanna church, where the wedding service took place before the evening party, deacon Hani al-Kasmousa said prayers for the dead would take place at the cemetery because there was not enough room in the church for so many mourners.
‘Yesterday there was a wedding and happiness. Now we are preparing their burial,’ he said, new coffins stacked along an alleyway near his church.
Father Rudi Saffar Khoury, a priest at the wedding, said it was unclear who was to blame for the fire.
‘It could be a mistake by the event organisers or venue hosts, or maybe a technical error,’ Khoury said. ‘It was a disaster in every sense of the word.’
![Survivors stand in the wreckage of the hall that was consumed in the inferno](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/20/75908021-12567329-image-a-49_1695844714216.jpg)
Survivors stand in the wreckage of the hall that was consumed in the inferno
![A man walks through the gutted out remains of the wedding hall where at least 100 people were killed on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/07/75878573-12564285-image-a-9_1695795739164.jpg)
A man walks through the gutted out remains of the wedding hall where at least 100 people were killed on Wednesday
![A view of the destroyed wedding hall in the northern Nineveh province in Mosul, Iraq, on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/07/75878583-12564285-image-a-10_1695795814961.jpg)
A view of the destroyed wedding hall in the northern Nineveh province in Mosul, Iraq, on Wednesday
![Iraqi security men inspect the scene of a fire that broke out at a wedding hall in Hamdaniya, in Iraq's Nineveh province, on Wednesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/07/75878549-12564285-image-a-1_1695795517907.jpg)
Iraqi security men inspect the scene of a fire that broke out at a wedding hall in Hamdaniya, in Iraq’s Nineveh province, on Wednesday
![Soldiers and emergency responders gather around ambulances carrying wounded people after a fire broke out at a wedding hall](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/02/75871685-12564285-image-a-36_1695777124190.jpg)
Soldiers and emergency responders gather around ambulances carrying wounded people after a fire broke out at a wedding hall
![At least 100 people died in a fire at a wedding in a festival hall in Hamdaniyah](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/02/75871671-12564285-image-a-38_1695777141771.jpg)
At least 100 people died in a fire at a wedding in a festival hall in Hamdaniyah
![Soldiers and emergency responders outside Hamdaniyah general hospital in Bakhdida](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/27/02/75871669-12564285-image-a-39_1695777142968.jpg)
Soldiers and emergency responders outside Hamdaniyah general hospital in Bakhdida
Najim al-Jubouri, the provincial governor of Nineveh, said some of the injured had been transferred to regional hospitals. He cautioned there were no final casualty figures yet from the blaze, which suggests the death toll still may rise.
Anger is simmering in the area after it emerged that the exterior of the wedding hall had been covered in the illegal cladding.
It wasn’t immediately clear why authorities in Iraq allowed the cladding to be used on the hall, though corruption and mismanagement remains endemic two decades after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
While some types of cladding can be made with fire-resistant material, experts say those that have caught fire at the wedding hall and elsewhere weren’t designed to meet stricter safety standards and often were put onto buildings without any breaks to slow or halt a possible blaze.
That includes the 2017 Grenfell Fire in London that killed 72 people in the greatest loss of life in a fire on British soil since World War II, as well as multiple high-rise fires in the United Arab Emirates.
Safety standards in Iraq’s construction sector are often disregarded, and the country, whose infrastructure is in disrepair after decades of conflict, is often the scene of fatal fires and accidents.
In July 2021, a fire in the Covid unit of a hospital in southern Iraq killed more than 60 people.
And in April of the same year, exploding oxygen tanks triggered a fire at a hospital in Baghdad – also dedicated to Covid patients – that killed more than 80 people.
Like many Christian towns in the Nineveh Plains, northeast of Mosul, Qaraqosh was ransacked by jihadists of the Islamic State group in 2014.
Qaraqosh and its churches were slowly rebuilt after the group was ousted in 2017, and Pope Francis visited the town in March 2021.
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