Building collapse due to fire in Iraq's capital: at least 32 injuries

A commercial building in the capital of Iraq caught fire and then collapsed on Sunday, authorities and the state news agency reported. More than two dozen people were injured, including the head of Iraq’s civil defense directorate.

Safety standards in building and other sectors are frequently flouted in Iraq, and accidents are common.

The official Iraqi News Agency said the civil defense director, Maj. Gen. Kadhim Bohan, and some firefighters were among those injured when the burning building collapsed.

No deaths were reported. No information was immediately available on the cause of the blaze.

Brig. Gen. Qusai Younis, director of civil defense for the Al-Rusafa district of Baghdad, told The Associated Press that at least 28 people had been injured.

He said two of the three stories in the building, which contained warehouses storing flammable materials such as perfume, collapsed due to the fire.

The civil defense announced late Sunday evening that the fire had been fully extinguished and first responders were searching for missing people at the scene.

On October 29, a gas tanker exploded near a soccer field in northeastern Baghdad, killing at least nine people and injuring 10 others. The explosion was found by an investigative committee to be an accident.