ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - A fire broke out at a pavilion inside the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) venue on Thursday, sending tens of thousands of attendees trying to evacuate at once. A Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) representative at the event said some suspected protestors may have been involved in the blaze.

The fire erupted in the conference hall of Belem, Brazil with KRG representatives inside. Salman Kareem from the water resources ministry, told The New Region that the building’s cotton ceiling quickly caught fire, causing thick smoke. 

“The place where the congress is held, the entire ceiling is cotton. When it catches fire no one can control it, the place is also very very big. Over 50,000 people are there. So imagine 50,000 people at once, in one push attacking for the exits, it was unpleasant. I also saw some people falling under others because the fire caused a lot of smoke,” Kareem said as fire trucks passed by him.

COP30 is the UN climate conference where countries gather to negotiate and strengthen global efforts to reduce gas emissions and curb global warming.

“When we came out I had two thoughts in mind, one was that there was a generator there near the hall so I thought to myself ‘maybe that caused it’ but many said there might be people involved, the indigenous people who had been protesting for days and were not answered - they might have wanted to ruin the work,” he said.

Indigenous Amazonian people took to the streets protesting with signs reading “demarcation now” and “our forests are not for sale.” The native people are often attacked by cattle ranchers or people trying to cut down trees for agriculture. One of their tribe leaders was killed on Sunday.

Kareem was standing alongside two KRG representatives from the environment protection board and one from the interior ministry when the fire erupted.

Kareem said they have been attending meetings at the event with different environmental organizations that could cooperate with the KRG on projects in various sectors. He stated that one of their aims was to join the Mountain Groups which consists of mountainous countries that assist each other in projects with investments and technicalities, noting that they have reached verbal agreements in that regard.