ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A fuel tank exploded on the rooftop of a building in Sulaimani’s Ashti neighborhood on Wednesday, killing at least one, the city's civil defense said.
The victim has been identified as Hassan Sultan Farhadi, originally from Iran’s western Kurdish region (Rojhelat), who was working on welding the tank before it went up in flames.
At least one civil defense member was hospitalized due to experiencing breathing difficulties when trying to put out the blaze. The fire was controlled by civil defense teams around an hour after it started, and an investigation to determine the material damage was launched.
“The construction of this building has recently been completed. Unfortunately, the individual who was working did not observe the safety precautions, because it is completely prohibited to weld a tank which has fuel inside of it,” Sulaimani civil defense director Diyar Ibrahim told reporters.
At least 23 people have lost their lives in fire-related incidents in Erbil and Duhok since the start of the year. There is currently no accurate data for incidents in Sulaimani.
An explosion at a packed house in Sulaimani’s Kaziwa neighborhood in November 2022 resulted in the complete collapse of the property, killing 15 people and injuring 12 others. The blast was attributed to gas buildup inside the house after the LPG tank leaked.
Days after the blast in Sulaimani, the explosion of a gas tank on the rooftop of a three-story building in Duhok killed at least seven and wounded 34 others, with most of the casualties being dormitory students who resided on the second and third floors of the building. The tank served as the gas system for a bakery on the first floor.
Rudaw's Peshawa Bakhtyar contributed to this article
