Five people of one family suffocated to death in Basra
Civil Defense team trying to rescue one of the victims of the burned house in Basra. Photo: Al-Ain news
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Civil Defense in Iraq announced on Tuesday five people of the same family were suffocated to death as a result of a fire that burned their house in the center of Basra city in southern Iraq.
The Civil Defense Directorate in Basra mentioned in a statement that the civil defense teams put out a fire that broke out inside an old dilapidated house built of bricks with a roof of palm trunks in central Basra governorate.
The statement elaborated that the civil defense teams recovered five bodies of one family who died of suffocation as a result of the smoke caused by the fire while they were sleeping inside the house.
The statement added that the dead bodies were transported to the Basra Teaching Hospital, and forensic experts were called to determine the causes of the fire.
Two days ago, eight people were killed after a religious shrine collapsed in Karbala city in central Iraq, about 100 kilometers southwest of Baghdad.
Karbala accident was met with angry reactions from social media activists who accused authorities concerned with managing religious shrines and tourist sites with remissness.
Investigations in most cases show that fires affecting government buildings, private institutions and homes in Iraq, in the past years, are caused by electrical short circuit.