Mosul ferry disaster: At least 40 passengers 'celebrating Kurdish New Year' dead
At least 55 people are dead after a ferry sank in the Tigris River, near Mosul in Iraq.
The ferry was overloaded, police and medical sources say.
The passengers were reportedly celebrating the Kurdish New Year.
Most of the casualties on the ferry were women and children who could not swim, the head of Mosul's Civil Defence Authority Husam Khalil said.
Reports close to 3pm said 55 people had been pulled from the water.
CNN reported 33 women, 12 children, and 10 men had died in the capsize, citing Ministry of Health spokesman Saif al-Badr.
The passengers were believed to have been on the ferry celebrating the Kurdish New Year, according to Al Jazeera.
Footage posted on social media shows the ferry upside down, floating down the river with people clinging to its sides.
