Construction worker dies in fall at Sulaymaniyah housing project

SULAYMANIYAH — A worker died Saturday after falling from the fourth floor of a housing project site in Sulaymaniyah, the local labor union said.

Chalak Raouf, head of the Sulaymaniyah branch of the Kurdistan Workers Syndicate, told 964media that the worker, identified as a Syrian Kurd, fell from the Aram Housing Project around 4 p.m. and died at the scene.

Raouf said the incident was caused by a lack of safety measures at the site.

The fatality follows a string of workplace deaths reported recently across the Kurdistan Region. Three days ago, a 53-year-old Turkish construction worker died after falling from the third floor of a building near the Corniche in Zakho.

On April 9, two electricity workers were killed and another injured in separate electrocution incidents in Duhok and Erbil governorates.

According to the Kurdistan Construction Workers’ Organization, at least 17 construction-related deaths were recorded in Sulaymaniyah between January and August 2024, alongside nine in Erbil and eight in the Garmian region. The organization cited poor safety standards, lack of protective equipment, and inadequate training as major contributing factors. Falls, electrocution, structural collapses, machinery accidents, and severe bleeding were among the most common causes of death.