4-storey building collapses in Iraq's Baghdad

A man’s body has been recovered from the rubble of a Baghdad building that collapsed on Saturday, Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed has reported. An investigation ordered by Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi is underway to discover the reasons for the collapse, explained the Iraqi Civil Defence.

The four-storey National Laboratory building, which housed medical clinics, was located in Al-Wathiq Square in the Karrada district of the Iraqi capital. The recovered body has been identified as that of the building’s security guard, but he has not yet been named.

Civil defence officers are still searching under the rubble of the building and more bodies may be found in the coming hours, explained the director of the service’s media department, Jawdat Abdel Rahman.

Kadhimi suggested that the building permit issued by previous administrations also has to be examined. The incident confirms the validity of current anti-corruption efforts to end the granting of random building permits, the prime minister insisted.

“The Parliamentary Integrity Committee will host the head of the National Investment Commission, the Governor of Baghdad and the director of the Baghdad Investment Commission next Wednesday to discuss the circumstances of the collapse of the National Laboratory building in Karrada,” added the parliamentary media unit.

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