“The fire at the square in the industrial area, on the left bank of Mosul, has been controlled by civil defense teams,” Sherwan Dubardani, a lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament from Nineveh province, told Rudaw late Monday, adding that the fire broke out in the truck yard in the industrial area.
Dubardani said that the fire started when a truck hit an electricity pole, causing it and electrical wires to fall and sparking a blaze that burned at least six vehicles, mostly cargo trucks.
Mohammed Kakayi, head of the Nineveh Provincial Council’s security and defense committee, said that a fuel tanker in the area exacerbated the flames.
“A fuel tanker was at the location, which also caught fire and created a loud explosion, marking the fire larger, and burning a number of vehicles,” Kakayi told Rudaw.
Fires are a perennial concern in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region where safety standards are often lacking. They are especially frequent in the summertime, with the scorching summer heat heightening the risk of fires.
Aging infrastructure, overcrowding, electrical faults, and a lack of basic safety standards are major underlying factors.
