<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Rescuers searched for more victims on Friday after a fuel tank explosion that killed at least 11 people and caused a house to collapse in northern Iraq, according to local authorities.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The blast in Sulaimaniyah occurred Thursday evening and left at least 11 dead and 13 injured, the city's emergency response chief Saman Nader told AFP.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He blamed the blast on "a gas leak from a tank".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Much of war-ravaged Iraq's infrastructure is dilapidated and tragedies are common. The country also suffers from poorly enforced safety standards, particularly in the transport and construction sectors.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nader said four people had still not been freed from under the rubble of the collapsed three-storey house, in the second largest city of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Our teams have been working for more than 15 hours to rescue the people trapped under the collapsed house," Nader said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Local residents watched on Friday morning as emergency workers, assisted by a backhoe, continued the rescue effort among collapsed white bricks and twisted metal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The explosion shattered the windows and blackened the facade of a neighbouring building.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An earlier toll issued Friday morning by Sulaimaniyah's health authorities had reported 10 deaths.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At least one child is among the victims, according to Sulaimaniyah Governor Haval Abu Bakr, who declared a day of mourning.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the end of October, at least nine people were killed and 13 others injured when a tanker transporting gas accidentally exploded in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In April 2021, more than 80 people died in a Baghdad hospital fire when improperly stored oxygen cylinders exploded. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>