Published21 August 2022, 12:36
IrakAt least six pilgrims under the rubble of a religious site
Sunday, six people were trapped following the collapse of a Shiite shrine in central Iraq.
Rescuers said they managed to deliver oxygen, food and water to people trapped under the rubble.
AFP
Iraqi relief workers were active on Sunday in an attempt to extract at least six pilgrims trapped under the rubble of a Shiite shrine, part of which collapsed during a landslide in the province of Karbala, in the center of the Iraq. Three children have already been rescued and are in “good condition. They were hospitalized,” the emergency services said.
Iraqi Civil Defense spokesman Nawas Sabah Shaker told AFP that “six to eight people” were still trapped under the rubble of Imam Ali’s Qattarat, a relatively modest-sized holy building surrounded by Hills.
Oxygen, food and water
According to Nawas Sabah Shaker, a portion of earth and rocks from the mounds that surround the shrine broke off on Saturday followingnoon “due to the high humidity” and fell on the building. The landslide caused the collapse of “regarding 30% of the total area of the building, which measures some 100 square meters”, he explained.
Quoted by the state news agency INA, the rescuers said they had managed to transmit oxygen, food and water to people trapped under the rubble. Imam Ali’s Qattarat is located regarding 25 km from the holy Shia city of Karbala and it attracts Shia pilgrims in their thousands every year. The shrine is dedicated to Imam Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and founding figure of Shia Islam.
(AFP)
