A fire that raced through a hall hosting a Christian wedding in northern Iraq killed at least 114 people and injured 150 others, authorities said Wednesday.
The death toll could rise higher, warned the authorities.
The fire happened in Iraq's Nineveh province in its Hamdaniya area. That's a predominantly Christian area just outside of the city of Mosul, some 335 kilometers (205 miles) northwest of the capital, Baghdad, reports AP.
Television footage showed flames rushing over the wedding hall as the fire took hold. In the blaze's aftermath, only charred metal and debris could be seen as people walked through the scene of the fire, the only light coming from television cameras and the lights of onlookers' mobile phones.
Survivors arrived at local hospitals, receiving oxygen and bandaged, as their families milled through hallways and outside as workers organized more oxygen cylinders.
The health department in Nineveh province raised the death toll to 114.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered an investigation into the fire and asked the country's Interior and Health officials to provide relief, his office said in a statement online.
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul
