Chaldean archbishop calls for international oversight in Hamdaniya tragedy investigation

ERBIL, October 10 — The Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul and Akre, Najib Mikhael Moussa, called for a new investigation under international supervision into the Hamdaniya fire on Tuesday, saying the tragedy and government inquiry raised “a thousand question marks.”

Speaking at the MERI Forum, on a panel discussing issues facing Nineveh, the Archbishop stated:

What is happening in Nineveh is not a coincidence, and there are those who desire to seize what does not belong to them and sometimes resort to inhumane methods.

What happened in Hamdaniya is a catastrophe, not a mere coincidence or a random incident.

The wedding hall was overcrowded with approximately a thousand people when it should only accommodate 500, and there were measures that should have been taken for safety.

There are a thousand question marks about what happened in the hall, as the incident ended within a few minutes, and the initial investigation results, which were hastily released, may have concealed the truth about the incident.

We buried 122 bodies, with the youngest being just a year and a half old. What was their fault to pay such a heavy price and to whom and why?

We await the final report of the investigation tomorrow, and we all hope for justice to be served for those who lost their lives for no reason.