Baghdad, July 17 -- As many as 61 people were killed in a massive fire at a newly opened mall in Al-Kut city in eastern Iraq, according to Iraq's Interior Ministry.
The ministry said that 14 charred bodies had been found in the mall fire in the Wasit governorate and that civil defense teams had rescued 45 people from inside the building.
"The death toll from the fire at a shopping mall in Kut has risen to 61. More than 45 people trapped in the burned-out building have been rescued," the ministry said in a statement, as quoted by the INA news agency.
Iraqi officials said that most of the people died from suffocation in the blaze that broke out in the mall.
Three days of mourning has been declared by Provincial Governor Mohammed al-May...