More than 100 killed as fire rips through wedding ceremony ‘after fireworks were set off’ in Iraq

MORE than 100 have been killed after a horror inferno ripped through a wedding ceremony in Iraq. It is understood the raging blaze erupted after fireworks were set off in the hall to celebrate. EPAThe horror blaze has left more than 100 dead[/caption] Authorities said that flammable building materials also contributed to the latest disaster to hit Iraqs dwindling Christian minority. The fire happened in the Hamdaniya area of Iraq’s Nineveh province, authorities said. There was no official word on the cause of the blaze, but the Kurdish television news channel Rudaw aired footage showing fireworks shooting up from the floor of the event and setting a chandelier aflame. In the blazes 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 in bandages, receiving oxygen, as their families milled through hallways and outside as workers organized more oxygen cylinders. Some of those burned included children. Ambulance sirens wailed for hours after the fire as paramedics brought out the injured. Other footage shown on other local television networks appeared to show the bride and groom on the dance floor when the fire began Tuesday night, stunned by the sight of the burning debris. There were about to do a slow dance and then they lit up this thing for the dance which caught fire,” one injured woman told Rudaw from a hospital gurney. Another man injured in the fire at the hospital similarly told Rudaw that the blaze started as the couple prepared for their slow dance. They lit up fireworks,” he said. “It hit the ceiling, which caught fire. He added: “The entire hall was on fire in seconds.