More than 100 dead, including bride and groom, in fire at Iraqi wedding hall

The fire happened in Iraq's Nineveh province in its Hamdaniya area.

ByDanielle Jennings and Kevin Shalvey
September 26, 2023, 9:03 PM

A bride and groom were killed along with more than 100 wedding guests as a fire ripped through a wedding hall in Hamdaniyah, in northern Iraq, on Tuesday, local officials said.

At least 150 others were injured when the wedding hall's ceiling caught fire and then collapsed, according to Hasan al-Allaq, the deputy governor of the Nineveh region.

PHOTO: Soldiers and emergency responders gather around ambulances carrying wounded people after a fire broke out during a wedding at an event hall, outside the Hamdaniyah general hospital in Al-Hamdaniyah, Iraq on Sept. 27, 2023.
Soldiers and emergency responders gather around ambulances carrying wounded people after a fire broke out during a wedding at an event hall, outside the Hamdaniyah general hospital in Al-Hamdaniyah, Iraq on Sept. 27, 2023.
Zaid Al-obeidi/AFP via Getty Images
PHOTO: People look at the aftermath of a fire that broke out during a wedding at an event hall in Al-Hamdaniyah, Iraq on Sept. 27, 2023.
People look at the aftermath of a fire that broke out during a wedding at an event hall in Al-Hamdaniyah, Iraq on Sept. 27, 2023.
Zaid Al-obeidi/AFP via Getty Images

Fireworks set off inside the wedding hall, where as many as 1,000 were celebrating, may have caused the fire, local reports said.

Fire investigators were working at the scene on Wednesday morning.

PHOTO: People react following a fatal fire at a wedding celebration, in the district of Hamdaniya in Iraq's Nineveh province, Iraq, Sept. 27, 2023.
People react following a fatal fire at a wedding celebration, in the district of Hamdaniya in Iraq's Nineveh province, Iraq, Sept. 27, 2023.
Khalid Al-mousily/Reuters

Iraq’s prime minister has called for three days of national mourning.

ABC News' Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.