A landslide collapsed the ceiling of a Shiite shrine in central Iraq and killed at least seven people, officials said Monday, reports APNews.
This tragic incident took place over the weekend at the Qattarat al-Imam Ali shrine of the shiite people, an adherent of the Shia branch of Islam, as rescuers continued to search for survivors.
The landslide struck near the holy city of Karbala, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, on Saturday.
According to Iraq’s civil defense, the landslide hit the ceiling of the shrine, which lies in a natural depression, causing it to cave in and dumping a stream of rock and mud inside the structure. The entrance, walls and the minarets of the shrine, which was built on the place of a water source in the desert, remained standing.
Among the dead, there were four women, two men and a child, the civil defense said, adding that search teams had rescued six people. On Monday, rescuers were using a bulldozer to try to remove the rubble and search for survivors.
The cause of the landslide was not immediately discovered. However, the civil defense blamed high humidity for the disaster.
Bdpratidin English/Lutful Hoque
