RIYADH: Saudi Arabia expressed on Monday its condolences to Iraq after a landslide caused a shrine in the governorate of Karbala to partially collapse.
The incident at Qattarat Al-Imam Ali shrine killed at least seven people, including a child, officials said Monday as rescuers continued to search for survivors.
According to Iraq’s civil defense, the landslide hit the ceiling of the shrine, which lies in a natural depression, causing it to cave in and dumping a torrent of rock and mud inside the structure. The entrance, walls and the minarets of the shrine, which was built on the place of a water source in the desert, remained standing.
The Kingdom’s foreign ministry offered its condolences to the families of those who died and to the Iraqi people. It also wished the injured a speedy recovery.