KUT, Iraq (AFP) — A fire tore through a newly opened shopping mall in the eastern Iraqi city of Kut overnight, killing at least 61 people, authorities said Thursday as grief-stricken families searched for missing relatives.

Officials said many people suffocated in bathrooms, while one person told AFP his five relatives died in an elevator.

The blaze — the latest in a country where safety regulations are frequently neglected — broke out late Wednesday, reportedly starting on the first floor before rapidly engulfing the five-storey Corniche Hypermarket Mall.

The cause was not immediately known, but one survivor told AFP an air conditioner had exploded.

Several people told AFP they lost family members — and in some cases whole families — who had gone to shop and dine at the mall days after it opened in Kut, around 160 kilometres (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

Footage shared on social media showed people including children standing on the roof, calling for help.

An AFP correspondent reported seeing charred bodies at the province’s forensic department.

Ali Kadhim, 51, said he had been shuttling between the mall and the main hospital, where the victims were taken, looking for his cousin, who is missing along with his wife and three children.

Back at the mall, he waited anxiously as rescuers searched for victims in the wreckage, with an ambulance on standby.

“We don’t know what happened to them,” he said.

An AFP correspondent at the scene said the blaze had been contained and the front of the building was severely charred.

The interior ministry said in a statement that “the tragic fire claimed the lives of 61 innocent citizens, most of whom suffocated in bathrooms, and among them 14 charred bodies yet to be identified”.

– ‘We couldn’t escape’ –
The official INA news agency later quoted a medical source who put the toll at 63 dead and 40 injured.

Wasit provincial governor Mohammed al-Miyahi told INA the victims included men, women and children.

A medical source in Kut told AFP there were “many unidentified bodies”.

Civil defence teams rescued more than 45 people who were trapped inside the building, which includes a restaurant and a supermarket, the interior ministry said.

The ward of the main hospital was overwhelmed, while elsewhere, an AFP correspondent witnessed distraught relatives waiting at the forensic department for news, some collapsing in grief.

One man fell apart, pounding his chest and screaming.

Nasir al-Quraishi, a doctor in his 50s, said he lost five family members in the fire.

“A disaster has befallen us,” he told AFP. “We went to the mall to have some food, eat dinner and escape power cuts at home.

“An air conditioner exploded on the second floor and then the fire erupted — and we couldn’t escape.”

– Lax safety regulations –
Moataz Karim, 45, rushed to the mall at midnight, only to be met with the devastating news that three of his relatives were missing.

Hours later, he identified the charred bodies of two relatives, one of whom had begun working at the shopping centre three days ago.

“There is no fire extinguishing system,” he said angrily, as he waited for further news outside the forensic department.

Safety standards in Iraq’s construction sector are often disregarded, and the country, whose infrastructure is in disrepair after decades of conflict, often experiences fatal fires and accidents.

Fires increase during the blistering summer as temperatures approach 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).

In September 2023, a fire killed at least 100 people when it ripped through a crowded Iraqi wedding hall, sparking a panicked stampede for the exits.

In July 2021, a fire in the Covid unit of a hospital in southern Iraq killed more than 60 people.

Governor Miyahi said local authorities would file a lawsuit against the mall’s owner and the building contractor.

“The tragedy is a major shock… and requires a serious review of all safety measures,” he said.

The government declared three days of mourning.

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered a “thorough probe” into the fire to identify “shortcomings” and prevent further incidents.

Several countries, including Egypt, Iran and France, offered condolences to Iraq and the victims’ families.

The US embassy in Baghdad likewise offered “its deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims”.