Bodies of two siblings recovered from Gharraf River after three-day search

KUT — Police river units in the village of Mithaq, south of Kut, on Wednesday recovered the bodies of two siblings who drowned in the Gharraf River after three days of searching.

Local sources told 964media that Ruqayya Ali Turad al-Badri, 14, and her brother Hussein, 11, went missing around 11 a.m. Monday after their mother sent them to throw out trash near the riverbank.

Family members, local residents and police joined in the search before the children’s bodies were found Wednesday afternoon, trapped beneath fish cages close to where they disappeared.

Several drowning incidents are reported weekly across the country. In late-August, a 19-year-old drowned while swimming in the Gharraf River in Qalaat Sukar district, north of Dhi Qar. Days earlier, the body of a 24-year-old man who had been missing for two days was recovered from a water source near the Tigris River in Shirqat district.

Local authorities in Salah Al-Din had banned swimming in large stretches of the Tigris River on Aug. 18 following a rise in drowning cases. Police urged residents to avoid entering the water, particularly in areas marked with warning signs.

With intense summer heat, many Iraqis turn to rivers and dams to cool off, but drowning remains common, especially among young people with limited swimming experience who underestimate river currents and deep water.

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