Nine days after drowning
Teenager’s body found after drowning in Great Zab
ERBIL — The body of a 16-year-old who drowned in the Great Zab River in the Khabbat district was found near the village of Sifai nine days after the incident, authorities said. The teenager was a resident of Jadida village in the Khabbat district.
Amanj Mohammed, the civil defense director in Khabbat, told 964media, “The high water level delayed finding the body.” He added that the reasons the teenager entered the river are unknown, as their task was solely to locate the body.
The Great Zab River, which spans 400 kilometers, flows from Turkey into Iraq, crossing through a vast area in the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok and Erbil governorates.
This incident marks the first drowning in the Greater Zab River this year, according to the Khabbat Civil Defense. Last year, the river claimed 17 lives, with more than 10 others rescued from potential drownings.
In 2023, over 100 people in the Kurdistan Region died from drowning, despite the efforts of civil defense teams and volunteers who managed to rescue around 70 individuals. Karwan Mirawdali, the former spokesperson for Erbil Civil Defense, noted that in the Erbil governorate, specifically in the Khabbat district, 31 drownings were recorded last year, resulting in 17 deaths, including women and children. This marked an increase from 2022, when 77 individuals drowned in the region.