Fire kills more than 35,000 chickens at Rumaila poultry facility

BASRA — A massive fire broke out Tuesday morning at a poultry facility in the Al-Mashrou area of southern Rumaila, west of Basra, killing more than 35,000 chickens and causing extensive material losses, according to local agricultural officials.

Salih Hassan, head of the Zubair Agriculture Division, told 964media the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit inside one of the facility’s main halls.

“The fire started this morning due to an electrical fault in one of the large poultry halls,” Hassan said. “Civil defense teams responded immediately and managed to prevent the fire from spreading to nearby halls.”

The hall housed approximately 50,000 chickens at the time of the fire. “The fire caused the death of more than 35,000, and the speed at which it spread made the losses worse, despite the intensive efforts of firefighting teams to contain it,” he said.

While there were no human casualties, the fire caused severe damage to the building’s infrastructure, electrical systems, and the hall’s ventilation and feeding equipment. Authorities are still assessing the full extent of the damage.