"28 killed in hotel fire in Iraq; Some trapped guests jumped to their deaths" by Yahya Barzanji and ReBecca Santana, Associated Press | July 17, 2010
BAGHDAD — A fierce blaze at a hotel without fire escapes sent some desperate guests plunging to their deaths in a northern Iraqi oil boomtown, killing 28 people.
Half of those killed were foreigners, a reflection of the thousands of migrants who have flooded the Kurdish region in northern Iraq in recent years in search of economic opportunities.
Yeah, war is great, ain't it?
Kurdistan, which has been spared the brunt of violence in Iraq, has prospered even as the rest of the country remains mired in sectarian bloodshed and political woes that have slowed investment.
That is VERY INTERESTING!
The fire began late Thursday night in the city of Sulaimaniyah and lasted well into yesterday morning as firefighters battled the deadly blaze in the five-story Soma Hotel for nearly five hours....
The dead included people from Cambodia, Bangladesh, Canada, Australia, Ecuador, South Africa, Britain, Lebanon, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, and one person who was believed to be a foreigner but did not have identification, the Kurdish government said....
I'll give you one guess where they were from.
Related: Occupation Iraq: Turkey Takes Action Against Israel
And you say Kurdistan is doing better economically, 'eh?
Some of those killed were working for foreign oil companies, according to the police chief. A number of such oil companies operate in the Kurdish north, which sits atop about 40 percent of Iraq’s total 115 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves....
Also see: Occupation Iraq: The Founding Father of Modern Iraq
And you say Kurdistan is doing better economically, 'eh?
Despite Iraq’s instability and struggling economy, the country — especially the three provinces that make up the Kurdish region — is still a destination for migrant workers, mostly from Asia and Africa, said Jean-Philippe Chauzy, a spokesman for the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration.
Yeah, and hikers, too!!
While the rest of Iraq has been plagued by violence since the 2003 US-led invasion, the Kurdish region has enjoyed relative stability, benefiting from a construction boom that has seen investors throw up houses, hotels, and office buildings.
An enclave that contains more than Kurds.
Interesting how you don't read much about that section of Iraq in the paper, isn't it?
