Investigation underway for deadly fire that killed 14 in Iraqi Kurdistan

Four days after a fire killed fourteen people in the Soran district of Erbil province, authorities in the Iraqi Kurdistan region have yet to identify what caused the blaze.   

Authorities in the Iraqi Kurdistan region are still investigating the causes of a fire that broke out late on Friday, 8, at a residential building in the Soran district of Erbil province, killing fourteen people and wounding seven others.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has tasked an investigation committee to determine the fire's cause. So far, five people have been arrested, including the owner of the building, though the results of the investigations are yet to be announced. The owner of a sofa factory located in the structure and three workers were also arrested. 

Ten men and four women lost their lives in the fire. Among the victims, two were residents of Soran, while the others hailed from Syria, Iran, and southern Iraq.

Four of the victims are members of an Iraqi family, including a professor at Soran University.

The New Arab contacted Halgurd Sheikh Najib, supervisor of Soran administration, but he was not immediately available to comment. 

Much of war-ravaged Iraq's infrastructure is dilapidated, and tragedies are common.

The country also suffers from poorly enforced safety standards, particularly in the transport and construction sectors.

More than 100 people lost their lives, and 100 others were injured in September when a fire broke out at a wedding in Hamdaniyah, also known as Qaraqosh, the largest Christian town in Nineveh province.

Fifteen people died, and around a dozen were injured in Sulaimaniyah city in November 2022 when a gas tank exploded, causing a building to collapse.

In April 2021, more than 80 people died in a Baghdad hospital fire when improperly stored oxygen cylinders exploded.