This is the horrific moment a deadly fire broke out during the bride and groom’s first dance at a wedding ceremony in Iraq, before the raging inferno engulfed the hall, killing at least 100 people and injuring 150 others.
The video allegedly shows newlyweds Haneen and Revan slow dancing before the fire, believed to have been started by fireworks, ripped through the large hall in the northern city of Qaraqosh, near Mosul.
Hanneen, wearing a large white wedding dress, is seen turning around in horror to see the flames rapidly climbing up the walls before burning material falls from the roof.
Chaos ensued and up to 900 wedding guests rushed for the exits in panic as the wedding hall was ablaze and filled with toxic smoke.
According to health official Ahmed Dubardani, the bride and groom are among more than 100 people who died in the deadly fire, while 150 others were injured – 50 of them critically.
Civil defense officials quoted by the Iraqi News Agency described the outside of the wedding hall as being decorated with highly flammable paneling, which is illegal in the country.
Najim al-Jubouri, the provincial governor of Nineveh, said some of the injured had been taken to regional hospitals. He warned that there were no final casualty figures from the fire, suggesting the death toll could rise.
Civil defense officials quoted by the Iraqi News Agency described the outside of the wedding hall as being decorated with highly flammable paneling, which is illegal in the country
This snapshot shows the wedding moments before the fire
Bride Haneen and groom Revan (pictured) are among more than 100 people who died in the deadly fire, according to health official Ahmed Dubardani
A view of the destroyed wedding hall in the northern Nineveh province of Mosul, Iraq, on Wednesday
People gather at the site of a deadly wedding reception fire, where the charred remains of the building were visible on Wednesday
An injured child lies on a hospital bed after a fire broke out at a wedding reception in the northern Nineveh province of Mosul, Iraq, on Wednesday
An injured man lies on a hospital bed after a fire broke out at the wedding ceremony, killing at least 100 people
Officials said ambulances and medical personnel were dispatched to the scene by Iraqi federal authorities and authorities in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region.
Television footage showed charred rubble in the wedding hall as a man screamed at firefighters.
Health Ministry spokesman Saif al-Badr announced the number of casualties via the Iraqi state news agency.
“Every effort is being made to provide assistance to the victims of the unfortunate accident,” al-Badr said.
A man walks through the gutted remains of the wedding hall where at least 100 people were killed on Wednesday
Iraqi security officials inspect the scene of a fire in Mosul, Iraq, on Wednesday
A view of the destroyed wedding hall in the northern Nineveh province of Mosul, Iraq, on Wednesday
Iraqi security forces inspect the site of a fire that broke out at a wedding hall in Hamdaniya in Iraq’s Nineveh province on Wednesday
Soldiers and emergency responders gather around ambulances carrying injured people after a fire broke out at a wedding hall
A fire at a wedding in a banquet hall in Hamdaniyah killed at least 100 people
Soldiers and emergency responders in front of the Hamdaniyah General Hospital in Bakhdida
It was not immediately clear why Iraqi authorities allowed the hall’s paneling to be used, even though corruption and mismanagement remain widespread two decades after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
While some types of cladding can be made from fire-resistant material, experts say the ones that caught fire in the wedding hall and elsewhere were not designed to meet stricter safety standards and were often installed on buildings without any breaks in place to slow the fire or stop possible fire.
These include the Grenfell fire in London in 2017, which killed 72 people, the largest fire death on British soil since World War II, and several high-rise fires in the United Arab Emirates.