In an address, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako described the fire as a “complete and total catastrophe”, according to Iraqi Kurdish news agency Rudaw.
Rania Waad, a wedding guest who sustained a burn to her hand, said that as the bride and groom were slow dancing, “fireworks started to climb to the ceiling, the whole hall went up in flames”.
On Wednesday evening, Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari cited Nineveh’s health directorate as saying that 94 people had died, according to the state-run Iraqi News Agency (INA).
A journalist in the Kurdish city of Irbil, Blesa Shaways, told the BBC there had not been sufficient “logistical tools to rescue the people” from the fire and that Mosul did not have enough ambulances, healthcare staff and medical equipment to treat the injured.
Earlier, the Civil Defence Directorate said the hall had been covered with highly flammable metal composite panels, which are illegal in the country and “collapse within minutes when a fire breaks out”.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said building inspections would be carried out and safety procedures would be scrutinised, with “the relevant authorities held accountable for any negligence”.
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