61 people drowned in the Kurdistan Region thus far in 2023
On Sunday, the KRG Ministry of Interior announced that swimming in some tourist attractions will soon be banned to prevent drowning.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Srwa Rasul, the Director General of the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Joint Crisis Coordination Center (JCCC), on Wednesday told Kurdistan 24 that 61 people have been drowned since the beginning of this year.
Rasul also revealed that some of the drowned were residents of the Kurdistan Region while others were tourists.
On Sunday, the KRG Ministry of Interior announced that swimming in some tourist attractions will soon be banned to prevent drowning.
With regards to specifics, the JCCC noted that the drownings consisted of 13 people in the Little Zab River in Erbil Province, eight people in the Great Zab River in Erbil Province and nine people in Zakho’s Pira Delal area.
Other areas such as Bardarash in Duhok Province, Dukan Lake in Sulaimani Province, and Sheikhi Balakan River in Soran Independent Administration also suffered substantial casualties.
Ibrahim Abdulmajid, spokesperson for the KRG's General Board of Tourism recently told Kurdistan 24 that thus far in 2023, more than four million tourists from the Kurdistan Region, southern and central Iraq, and abroad visited tourist attractions in the Kurdistan Region.
According to the latest figures from the JCCC, 77 people drowned in the Kurdistan Region last year, some of them tourists, while most were residents of the Kurdistan Region.
Furthermore, according to the KRG Interior Ministry, more than 400 people have drowned in the Kurdistan Region in the past four years. During which, more than 250 survivors were rescued by civil defense teams, the ministry added.
On Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani's recommendation, a meeting about National Drowning Prevention Day was held at the Ministry of Interior on July 25. During the meeting, the ministry discussed the importance of developing lifeguard training protocols and a potential requirement in the future to have all water attractions supervised by certified lifeguards.
Read More: KRG holds a meeting about National Drowning Prevention Day
Globally, according to the World Health Organization, more than 2.6 million people have drowned in the past 10 years. According to the organization, young people and children are the most vulnerable to drowning, with more than half of those dying being under the age of 30.
