Fire at mall in Iraq leaves 69 people dead

A fire tore through a newly opened shopping mall in the eastern Iraqi city of Kut overnight, killing at least 69 people, authorities said yesterday, as grief-stricken families searched for missing relatives.

Officials said many people suffocated in bathrooms, while one person told AFP that his five relatives died in an elevator. At least 11 people remained missing.

The blaze -- the latest in a country where safety regulations are frequently neglected -- broke out late Wednesday, reportedly starting on the first floor before rapidly engulfing the five-storey Corniche Hypermarket Mall.

The cause was not immediately known, but one survivor told AFP an air conditioner had exploded.

Several people told AFP they lost families including mothers and children who had gone to shop and dine at the mall, days after it opened in Kut -- around 160 kilometres (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

Footage shared on social media showed people including children standing on the roof, calling for help.

Ali Kadhim, 51, has been shuttling between the mall and the main hospital, where the victims were taken, looking for his cousin, who is missing with his wife and three children.

Back at the mall, he waited anxiously as rescuers searched for victims in the wreckage, with an ambulance on standby.