After their wedding ended in tragedy, a bride and groom made a terrible confession.
A couple’s wedding day should be one of the best days of their lives, but for Haneen and Revan, it ended with more than 100 people dead and at least 150 hurt.
After the terrible disaster, the newlyweds talked to the press.
During Haneen and Revan’s wedding ceremony at a banquet hall in the Christian town of Qaraqosh in the Nineveh region of northern Iraq, a fire broke out, ruining the day.
A fire broke out between 10 and 10:45 p.m. and halted the event, which had about 900 attendees. The newlyweds danced on the floor while people crowded around to watch.
At first, it was thought that fireworks sparked the fire, but the groom, Revan, thinks it started in the ceiling somehow. He told Sky News, “It could be a short circuit; I don’t know.” But the ceiling caught fire.
We could feel the heat… I gazed toward the ceiling when I heard the crackling. The ceiling, which was made of nylon, then started to melt. It took just a few seconds.
Revan said that when the pair started dancing, two small fireworks went off, and then four more went out a little while later.
When the wedding was being organized, the groom’s dad said he was worried about the dangers of utilizing fireworks at the venue.
He was scared that the sparks from the fireworks could land on the bride and groom and “catch fire,” but the people who owned the hall stated the fireworks were electric, so “you could put your hand or even plastic [on it] and it won’t burn.”
People started to “scream” and “run away” when they found out there was a fire at the wedding.
Revan said, “I grabbed my wife and started to pull her.” I kept pulling her and attempting to get her out of the kitchen door. People were stomping on her as they ran away. Her legs are hurt.
He says there was just one fire extinguisher in the event hall and that it “didn’t work.”
Nirvan, who was there and got away, told The Media Line that the fire started quickly and almost entirely destroyed the ceiling.
During the stampede that followed, my wife was hurt. Civil Defense showed up more than half an hour late and couldn’t help all the injured people.
Reports say that the newlyweds were able to get away from the fire by running out of a kitchen door, but regrettably, many of their loved ones d!ed in the fire.
Haneen’s mother and brother were among the ten family members that d!ed in the tragedy. Her father was also in very bad shape.
The Iraqi News Agency was warned by the Civil Defense Directorate that the banquet hall was coated with composite panels that may catch fire easily, which would be against safety rules.
According to The Independent, the directorate said that the fire caused parts of the hall to fall down because it used cheap, extremely flammable building materials that fall apart in minutes when the fire breaks out.
Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari said that a first look into the incident showed that it was “caused by fireworks,” which made the roof catch fire and fall on the people. INA says.
The BBC says that 14 people were arrested after the fire, four of whom were involved in lighting the pyrotechnics. Some of them are free now.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said that individuals who were negligent or failed to do their jobs should face “the toughest punishments allowed by law” for causing this terrible catastrophe.
He also told all the right people to step up their inspections of buildings and checks of safety procedures at public places like hotels, restaurants, and shopping malls.
The couple, who had to bury their family and friends, including young children, told Sky News that they can’t live in their hometown anymore.
Haneen hasn’t been able to talk since the events of September 2023.
“That’s it,” Revan remarked. “We can’t live here anymore.” I mean, every time we strive to be happy, something bad happens that ruins the bliss. So, we should leave now.
Yes, we are sitting here alive in front of you. But we are dead inside. We don’t feel anything. We’re dying within.Find out more about the tragedy below.
