MOSUL, Iraq — Iraqi authorities in coordination with the Kurdistan Region’s Asayesh (Security) arrested two men for their alleged involvement in the capsizing of a ferry on March 21 that killed around 100 people and has left more than 50 missing.
“The Nineveh Province Crisis Cell, in coordination with the Kurdistan Region‘s Crime Prevention Office, announces the arrest of Obeid Ibrahim Ali, the owner of the tourist island, & his son Ryan Obeid Ibrahim,” Iraqi Ministry of Defense Spokesperson Yahya Rasul wrote on Twitter on Saturday morning.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi blamed “greed and negligence” for the disaster on Tuesday. He vowed to establish a crisis cell for the investigation.
The fate of 55 people remain unknown after the ferry incident in the Tigris on the Newroz holiday on March 21.
Hassan Wasiq, the head of Mosul Forensics Department, told Rudaw on Friday that six diving teams are looking for the missing.
“These teams have come from Kurdistan, Basra, Baghdad, and neighboring countries including Turkey. They are searching for bodies in the banks of Tigris River,” he revealed.
Relatives of the missing are requesting for the government to step up rescue operations.
“My son drowned in the ferry incident. They haven’t found him after eight days. I ask the central government, tribes of the south, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Kurdistani nation to sympathize and cooperate with our disaster,” said Aziz Karim, the father of one of the victims.
Nineveh justice officials have issued a warrant for the arrest of sacked provincial Governor Nawfal Hamadi.
One of the witnesses to the disaster, Omar Waad, recalls people calling for help as the ferry capsized.
“I saw the ferry turning upside down. When I arrived at the scene, the bodies were floating. In case of such incidents, one or two people ask us for help. But hundreds of people were screaming for help on that day, including children, women and some young people. Most of the bodies we were recovering were children and women. It was strange,” he said.
Mosul is Iraq’s second-largest city and its civil institutions and infrastructure are still recovering from the Islamic State (ISIS) conflict. It is 355 kilometers northwest of the capital.
The neighboring Kurdistan Region has announced stricter rules for watercraft owners. Kurdistan is a regional tourism hot spot because of its cooler climate, mountains, waterfalls, lakes, and rivers. Often however, tourists and locals are not able to swim.
Reporting Naif Ramazan