Iraq
The house that went up in flames in Baghdad's Karrada on April 13, 2024. Photo: Rudaw/screengrab
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Six bodies were recovered from a house fire that broke out in Baghdad on Saturday afternoon, the Iraqi civil defense directorate stated.
The fire took place in the Karrada neighborhood of central Baghdad. The dead are a father, mother, and their four children.
"A family consisting of six members including a father, a mother, three sons, and one daughter died in the accident," said Salah Abbas, chieftain of the Zawiya area in Karrada.
"The father burned to death and the rest of the family suffocated to death due to smoke,” he said.
Security forces and neighbors rushed in to help firefighters try to save the family, but the blaze was large and difficult to bring under control.
"The accident was horrific,” said Abbas. “They were a poor family. The father of the family used to work in the Sheikh Omar area. The mother was a housekeeper, and the rest were students.
"The oldest was 18 years old and the youngest was 10 years old,” he added.
A neighbor and eyewitness said they saw the father waving to them, asking for help, but they could not do anything to save them.
"My mother called me and said that our neighbor’s house had burned down. I saw nothing but smoke. We could not enter the house,” said Muhannad Salman. "We saw him [the father] waving at us from the window, but we were not able to do anything for them."
The father was a mechanic and was originally from Egypt.
The cause of the fire is unclear, but is believed to be due to an electrical fault. Local police have begun an investigation into the cause.
House fires often occur in the Iraqi capital, with most attributed to electrical faults.
Data from the Iraqi civil defense directorate indicates that there were over 21,000 fire incidents in Iraq in 2023, down from 32,000 in 2022.
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