Seven people have died in crop fire-related incidents in different parts of Ninewa province over the past week. Another 20 people, including civil defense personnel were also injured while trying to control farmland fires.
On Wednesday, June 12, fires ripped through farmers’ crops in Darawish village in eastern Mosul’s Bashik sub-district; as a result, 5 people were injured, one of them died later of his wounds.
Earlier on Monday, June 10, three farmers died, four others injured in a similar incident in Talafar district northwest of Ninewa.
On June 8th, three people in the Ezidi town of Shingal west of Ninewa sustained injuries when they attempted to contain crop fires.
Members of the civil defense teams are said to be among those injured.
Colonel Husam Khalil, head of Ninewa Civil Defense Department, speaking to KirkukNow said, “Three members of our teams were injured while trying to control a fire in Hamdaniya; meanwhile, two others were also injured when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Talafar”. Another 4 people were injured in Ba’aj district.
According to figures released by the General Directorate of Civil Defense, during the period from May 8 until June 4 of this year, 44 fire incidents have been recorded in Ninewa province damaging 11,183 donums of crop fields, mostly located in Talafar.
Iraqi PM Adil Abdul-Mahdi said in a press conference on Wednesday that the fire incidents which occurred this year is less compared to the year before, indicating that large areas of agricultural land have been saved.
“Such incidents are common around the world; however, the burning of a single donum of crop field is a loss for the country”, the PM concluded.
