Eight days after disappearance

14-year-old girl remains missing in Choman

CHOMAN — A 14-year-old girl remains missing since last Friday, sparking an intensive search amid concerns she may have drowned during a family visit to the village of Ene in the Choman district of Erbil.

Nakam disappeared at approximately 6:00 a.m. while on a trip with her family from Kirkuk to the village, a noted tourism hotspot known for its scenic, cool, and mountainous environment.

Initial search efforts yielded only Nakam’s shoes near a riverbank, furthering fears of a drowning incident.

Karwan Mirawdali, head of Soran’s civil defense, emphasized the ongoing efforts to locate her. “Every day, two civil defense teams are relentlessly searching to uncover her fate. We strongly suspect she has drowned,” Mirawdali told 964media.

Authorities have pledged to continue the daily search for up to a month. If Nakam is not found by then, the efforts will be scaled down to twice a week.

This incident adds to a troubling trend in the region, where four other tourists have drowned this year. In response, local authorities have begun implementing stricter safety measures at popular tourist spots.

The Civil Defense Directorate of the Kurdistan Region reports that drownings have tragically climbed in recent months, with 26 fatalities in the last five months. Last year, the area saw more than 100 drownings, although civil defense teams managed to rescue nearly 70 people, a significant increase from 77 drownings recorded the previous year.