Three killed in fire at shop and tea house in southern Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's Civil Defense Directorate said three people died in a fire that broke out at a workplace in Hillah, south of the capital. According to a written statement from the agency, the fire started in a public tea house located on the upper floor of a ground-floor shop that sold cooking oil in central Hillah. Civil defense teams brought the flames under control and fully extinguished them, rescuing several residents affected by smoke from the building. A number of people exposed to heavy smoke were taken to hospital, where three of them could not be saved despite medical intervention, the directorate said. The Civil Defense Directorate announced that relevant authorities have launched a formal investigation into the cause of the fire and dispatched a forensic evidence specialist to the scene.