The bride whose wedding descended into tragedy after more than 100 guests were killed when a fire broke out has been left ‘unable to talk’ from grief.
Haneen and her new husband Ravan were slow-dancing at the wedding venue in Qaracosh, near to the city of Mosul in northern Iraq, when a blaze broke out.
One survivor, 17-year-old Raniaa Waad, recalled seeing ‘fireworks starting to climb to the ceiling and the whole hall went up in flames’.
She told news agency AFP: “We couldn’t see anything. We were suffocating, we didn’t know how to get out.”
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The fire was rumoured to have stemmed from indoor fireworks, but Revan said it may have started in the ceiling of the building.
Speaking to Sky News, he said: "It could be a short-circuit, I don't know. But the fire started in the ceiling.
“We felt the heat… When I heard the crackling I looked at the ceiling.
“Then the ceiling, which was all nylon, started to melt. It only took seconds."
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A large number of the bride and groom’s friends and family were killed after the blaze ripped through the venue in Iraq’s Nineveh province - including 18-year-old Haneen’s mother and brother.
During the interview with Sky, Haneen was unable to say a word as she was so devastated.
"[Haneen]'s lost 10 relatives from her family, her loved ones, her mom, her brother,” her husband Revan said.
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“She can't speak."
He added: "Inside we are dead. We are numb. We are dead inside.”
Revan recalled how there had been a power cut just before their first dance, after which he noticed flames in the ceiling as the lights came back on.
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He said he had to rescue Haneen by dragging her to safety, as she couldn’t escape herself because of her long wedding dress.
"I kept dragging her and trying to get her out of the kitchen entrance,” he explained.
“As people were fleeing, people were trampling on her.
“Her legs are injured. Our relatives, our friends, our loved ones are all gone."
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Revan said their happiness has been ‘destroyed’ after the incident, even saying they feel they’ll have to move.
"That's it, we can't live here anymore,” he said.
"I mean every time we try to have some happiness, something tragic happens to us and destroys the happiness so it's best for us to leave."
Topics: News
Jess Hardiman