Three children have already been rescued and are in “good condition. They have been hospitalized”, the emergency services said.
Iraqi Civil Defense spokesman Nawas Sabah Shaker told AFP that “six to eight people” were still trapped under the rubble of Imam Ali’s Qattarat, a relatively modest sacred building surrounded by rock walls.
According to Mr. Shaker, a portion of the rock broke off on Saturday afternoon “due to the high humidity” and fell on the building.
The landslide caused the collapse “of about 30% of the total surface of the building, which measures some 100 square meters”, he explained.
Quoted by the state news agency INA, the rescuers said they had managed to transmit oxygen, food and water to people trapped under the rubble. They also claimed to maintain verbal contact with the victims “to reassure them”.
“We are working hard with the utmost precision to reach those trapped. Any mistake could lead to further collapses,” Abdelrahmane Jaoudat, director of the Civil Defense media department, told AFP.
Bassem Khazali’s nephew was trapped under rubble “when the roof collapsed” on Saturday. “I’m afraid that all the efforts undertaken will be in vain (…). We want to know what happened, why it happened,” Khazali told AFP.
During the day on Sunday, backhoe loaders were busy removing rubble, according to an AFP correspondent on the spot. Outside and inside the building, the police, the army and the men of Hachd al-Chaabi, former paramilitaries integrated into the Iraqi armed forces, secured the site.
In a tweet, Iraqi President Barham Saleh called on “heroic” rescuers to “mobilize all their efforts to rescue those trapped”.
Imam Ali’s Qattarat is located about 25 km west of the holy Shia city of Karbala and it attracts pilgrims by the thousands every year. It is dedicated to Imam Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and founding figure of Shia Islam.
According to Shiite tradition, Imam Ali stopped here with his army on his way to the Battle of Siffin in 657 and caused a spring to spring up there.
