Spanish embassy sends condolences for Iraqi killed in Green Zone accident

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Embassy of Spain in Baghdad expressed its “deep condolences” following a car accident involving an embassy vehicle that resulted in the death of an Iraqi man.

The incident took place on July 31 in Baghdad’s International Zone, also known as the Green Zone, where many foreign embassies and some Iraqi government institutions are located.

According to a statement released by the embassy on Monday, a car driven by Omar Khalid Hamad smashed into a vehicle used by the embassy, killing Hamad and injuring four Spanish nationals.

“With regard to the accident, the Embassy of Spain would like to point out that it was Mr. Omar [Hamad's] car the one that hit the Spanish vehicle, so there was no run over, as some media has published,” the statement read, in reference to local news reports that Hamad had been hit as a pedestrian by an embassy vehicle.

"From the moment of the incident, the embassy tried to contact the family to provide the necessary support and the embassy staff went twice to the hospital to inquire by contacting the family and spoke to the police in order to get his family's."

The statement also mentioned that they still have not received the police’s report establishing the official cause of the crash.

“The Embassy of Spain will provide all collaboration to the authorities of Iraq and to the family of Mr. Omar Khalid in order to clarify the circumstances of the accident and to provide any possible assistance,” the statement concluded.

Car accidents are one of the main causes of death in Iraq that many activists link the high number of car crashes to lack of good roads and drivers’ violations in failing to follow traffic instructions.

Recently, Iraq’s Health Ministry revealed that nearly 23,000 Iraqis had been killed as a result of vehicle accidents across the country over the last decade.

“In the past ten years, 66,000 car accidents took place in Iraq, in which 22,952 people have been killed and 79,000 more wounded,” said to the ministry.

Editing by John J. Catherine