The leader of the Sadrist movement in Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr, announced on Sunday that what he described as “suspicions of corruption” caused civilian casualties in Qattara in Karbala province.
Al-Sadr said on his Twitter account: “We demand the government for an immediate and serious investigation in order to reveal the truth so that corruption does not affect mosques and places of worship as it affected state institutions and ministries.”
The Iraqi Ministry of Health had announced earlier that 4 people were killed and 6 others injured in the collapse of a dirt hill on the Imam Ali train station in Karbala.
On Sunday, the Iraqi Civil Defense Directorate identified the causes of the collapse of the soil in the religious shrine, the Qattara of Imam Ali.
The directorate said in a statement received by the Iraqi News Agency, “Civil Defense rescue teams continue precise excavation operations using light rescue equipment to cut reinforcing bars and raise concrete blocks at Qattara Imam Ali site in Karbala, with the participation of the elite search and rescue team of the Civil Defense Directorate in Baghdad.” .
And she continued: “The rescue teams of the provinces of Babil, Diwaniyah and Muthanna provided a supportive effort to the Karbala rescue teams, led directly by the Director General of Civil Defense, Major General Kazem Salman Buhan.”
She added that “the work continues throughout the night, and the civil defense teams were able to deliver oxygen, drinking water and food to the detainees by completing holes in the pile of rubble and concrete blocks with continuous verbal communication to reassure them,” noting that “the teams succeeded in removing two children and a boy in good health, who were transferred to The hospital is monitoring their health condition and is still continuing the rescue work until all the detainees, visitors and workers, are released.
She stated, “Initial information indicates that the cause of the accident was the result of moisture saturation of the earthen berm adjacent to the shrine, which led to the collapse of a mound of dirt on the ceiling of the shrine, which fell on a number of visitors.”
