Woman drowns in Dukan Lake, marking 44th case in Kurdistan Region this year

RANYA — Civil defense teams in Raparin governorate recovered the body of a 22-year-old woman who drowned Tuesday night while swimming in Dukan Lake near the village of Mamandawa in the Bingird subdistrict — the 44th drowning case reported across the Kurdistan Region in 2025.

In a statement Wednesday, the Raparin Civil Defense Directorate said, “Unfortunately, after we received information last night that a woman named Dalia, aged 22, a mother of one, drowned in the waters of Dukan near Mamandawa village in the Bingird subdistrict, our teams responded to the scene and were able to recover the body within 10 minutes and hand it over to the police.”

Ali Qadir, spokesperson for the directorate, told 964media that the woman had entered the water with others during a family outing. “According to our initial information, a family from Mamandawa village went to the shores of Dukan Lake last night to spend some leisure time. One of the women entered the water to swim and drowned,” he said.

Qadir said the woman, a resident of Bermarga in Bingird, was reported missing suddenly while in the water. “Three other women were rescued, but Dalia drowned,” the statement said.

The death comes one day after a series of other drowning incidents across the region. On August 4, four young people drowned in the Khazir River near the village of Qaymawa in Bardarash district, while two others died at Pris pond in Halabja, bringing the total to six drownings in a single day.

According to Sarkawt Karash, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government Civil Defense Directorate, 44 drowning cases have been reported across the region so far this year, with Erbil governorate recording the highest number, followed by Duhok, Sulaymaniyah, and Halabja.