Overview

• A provisional medical report confirms at least 63 fatalities and 40 injuries, with numerous shoppers still unaccounted for.
• The blaze erupted late on July 16 on the first floor of the five-storey Hyper Mall, which opened only days earlier, and its cause remains under investigation.
• Iraqi Interior Ministry officials say firefighters rescued more than 45 people trapped inside, though many victims succumbed to smoke inhalation.
• President Abdel Latif Rachid and governments in Jordan, Kuwait and the United States extended condolences to grieving families.
• The disaster has intensified scrutiny of building safety standards and enforcement amid Iraq’s post-conflict reconstruction efforts.