Rescuers looking for survivors after a Shia Muslim shrine in Iraq partially collapsed have found three more bodies, bringing the number of dead to seven.

Four women and a child were among those killed when a landslide struck the Qattarat al-Imam Ali on Saturday, the General Civil Defence Directorate said.

Another three children have been rescued and taken to hospital.

An earth mound next to the shrine, 28km (17 miles) west of Karbala, is believed to have collapsed due to high humidity.

"The mountain had been collecting water and, unfortunately, nobody had noticed," said Daifallah Naim, a nurse with the Popular Mobilisation, a paramilitary force dominated by Shia militias.

The landslide hit the roof of the Qattarat al-Imam Ali, which then collapsed on top of Shia pilgrims inside.

"We are continuing the search for other victims," civil defence spokesman Jawdat Abdelrahman told AFP news agency on Monday morning.

Witnesses had reported that the body of another woman was still under the rubble, he added.

On Sunday, President Barham Saleh praised the rescuers as heroes and expressed his condolences to the victims and their families.

Influential Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr also offered his condolences, but he warned that there were "suspicions of corruption" surrounding the incident.

He called on the government to order an "immediate and serious investigation in order to reveal the truth so that corruption does not reach mosques and places of worship, as it has affected state institutions and ministries", the state-owned Iraqi News Agency reported.

The shrine contains a spring where Shia believe the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law and cousin, and his army stopped to drink from while on their way to a battle in 657.

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by BBC News

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