Tragedy in Bakhdida
Patriarch Sako and other church leaders gathered in mourning at the funeral, along with Kurdish and Iraqi government officials. AP
The cleanup crew studies the wedding hall following the disastrous fire. AP
By Christina Salem
Tragedy struck the town of Bakhdida during a wedding celebration on Tuesday evening. At least 120 have been declared dead and more than 500 people injured due to severe burns and or difficulty breathing in a fire in Iraq’s Nineveh Plains Province. The death toll is still rising.
As fire rained from the décor above, many scrambled to disperse from the venue. More than one thousand people attended the celebration of love for Haneen and Revan, two Bakhdida natives. Many people are missing, and bodies have been burned beyond recognition. All bodies have been removed from the venue.
Photos from the funeral, as well as a CNN interview with the groom’s father, confirm that the newlywed couple made it out alive. The establishment only had one public exit. Many children didn’t have a chance to exit as crowds of adults fled the hall. Lots of men were able to flee, and mostly women have perished as a result.
According to locals who witnessed the fire, The town of Bakhdida only has one fire truck which arrived on the scene 30 minutes after the fire broke out and it ran out of water within seconds.
There were no fire extinguishers in the building, no emergency fire escape, and no sprinkler system. “I hold the owner of the hall responsible for what happened at the party because there are no extinguishers or safety measures in the hall,” the father of the groom told CNN.
According to the Associated Press as well as videos from the event, the fire occurred because of pyrotechnics that lit the ceiling of the venue, which was decorated with flowers, fabric, and hay during the Bride and Groom’s slow dance. The ceiling was built using cheap materials and the entire hall caught fire in a few seconds. Iraqi authorities say that the owner of al-Haitham was aware of the safety issues in the hall and proceeded to move forward despite warnings. He attempted to flee but was arrested in Erbil.
The entire town of Bakhdida is Christian. Before the ISIS invasion, the town boasted a population of 64,000. About half returned to the town, only to face this massive tragedy. The confirmed number of deceased, which has already surpassed 100 people and is expected to continue to climb, is larger than that of the entire ISIS invasion of Mosul and the Nineveh Plains.
Much of the Chaldean community in metro Detroit has family from or near Bakhdida which is only a 35-minute drive to Mosul, an hour drive to Tel Keppe and an hour and 18-minute drive to Al Qosh. Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Syriacs alike perished in this tragedy and Patriachs from all five Christian Churches in the community performed the funeral the day after.
Most political parties, organizations, and religious leaders have announced they are in mourning, with the Prime Minister of Iraq issuing three days of mourning for the entire country. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani also ordered an investigation into the fire at al-Haitham Hall. The government urged Iraqis to donate blood to the victims and patrons generously flooded hospitals in urgency. Details are still being sorted and more updates are developing.