"The wedding hall is covered with highly flammable Ecobond panels that violate safety instructions and are referred to the judiciary according to the Civil Defense Law No. 44 of 2013 due to their lack of safety requirements from alarm and fire systems," the civil defense said.

"The fire led to the collapse of parts of the hall as a result of the use of flammable and low-cost building materials that collapse within minutes when the fire breaks out," the statement quoted by the Iraqi News Agency said.

He continued: "The civil defense teams mobilized within minutes, surrounded the fire, carried out direct incursions, and succeeded in entering the middle of the burning hall to start rescue operations for the families, women and children, in conjunction with the implementation of fire suppression operations, which led to the collapse of parts of the hall."

The statement concluded by saying that preliminary information indicates "the use of fireworks during the wedding, which ignited the fire inside the hall initially, and the fire spread very quickly and exacerbated the toxic gas emissions associated with the combustion of flammable plastic Ecobond panels, which caused victims and injuries among families, and an investigation was opened and a forensic expert was summoned to confirm the causes of the fire in accordance with the legal procedures followed."

On Wednesday, the Iraqi health of Nineveh reported 100 deaths as a preliminary toll as a result of the Hamdaniya fire accident, and the injury of more than 150 others.

Health Minister Saleh Mahdi al-Hasnawi had directed a call to treat those injured in the incident.

"Health Minister Saleh Mahdi al-Hasnawi directed the ministry's departments in Ninawa province and its neighboring departments to be alerted to rescue and treat those injured in the fire accident in al-Hamdaniya district and provide them with health care," a Health Ministry statement said.

Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari confirmed that civil defense teams were able to evacuate all those injured in the Hamdaniya fire incident.

The Iraqi News Agency quoted al-Shammari as saying that he "went to Ninawa province to find out the repercussions of the fire incident in wedding halls in Hamdaniya," adding that "the Civil Defense was able to evacuate all those injured in the fire incident."

Earlier, Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani directed the ministers of interior and health to mobilize all efforts to relief those affected by the fire in the Hamdaniya district.

The Prime Minister's Information Office said in a statement received by the Iraqi News Agency, that "Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani is in a phone call to the governor of Nineveh, to find out the repercussions of the fire that occurred in one of the wedding halls in the Hamdaniya district in the Nineveh Plains, and directs the ministers of interior and health to mobilize all efforts to relief those affected by the unfortunate incident."