ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A fire caused by a gas leak killed three members of a family in a Kirkuk village late Friday.
“The powerful explosion destroyed the house,” Ziyad Khalaf, head of Kirkuk health directorate, told Rudaw on Saturday.
“It was caused by a gas leak,” he added.
A 38-year-old mother and two of her daughters, aged 10 and 13, were killed in the blaze.
The incident took place in Zap village of Kirkuk’s Hawija district.
Fires are a recurrent issue in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. In-home hazards include gas cooking stoves and heaters, as well as faulty wiring and lack of safety precautions.
Nawas Sabah, the coordinator of the Iraqi civil defense directorate’s media unit, told Rudaw on Monday that 21,024 fire incidents were recorded in Iraq in 2023, with most of them taking place in Baghdad. The lowest number of fires were recorded in Maysan province. The data does not include the Kurdistan Region.
Tragically, in late September, over 100 people lost their lives during a wedding in Nineveh province's Hamdaniya, when a bouquet hall was engulfed in flames. Last month in Erbil province's Soran administration, a fire in a building housing university students and lecturers claimed fourteen lives.
