The family members of the Peshmerga (Kurdish fighter) sunk in the Little Zab river in a Kirkuk district two weeks ago are still hopeful to find the body as the search is ongoing by coast police.
Mariwan Hussein, 37, was married and has one kid. He was deployed in Brigade two in Erbil and living in Kirkuk. On July 30th, he receives his salary and drives back to Kirkuk.
He stops by Little Zab in Altun Kopri in order to cool himself and take a shower but sinks.
“We are waiting here for 13 days with sea police but could not find his body though even water flow of Dukan lake has been reduced,” said Asso Hussein, brother of Mariwan.
A source in sea police of Altun Kopri said Mariwan is the seventh case of drowning in Little Zab in 2021 but all other bodies were found and five people were rescued.
Coast police has registered 14 death cases of drown in Little Zab last year and all the bodies were found.
Altun Kopri or the Golden Brdige, northeast of Kirkuk, is home to Turkmens, Kurds and Arabs and part of the disputed territories. Currently Kirkuk joint operation’s command, made up of Iraqi army, police and the Shiite paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces PMF, is in charge of the security of Kirkuk province including Altun Kopri.
Directorate of Kirkuk water said in a statement on August 10th water flow into Little Zab has been reduced from lake Dukan, through Dukan dam reservoir, in order to ease the process of search for the body of the drowned Peshmerga.
The Little Zab originates from Iran and joins Tigris River in Iraq south of al-Zab town in Hawija district south of Kirkuk.
Kirkuk, located 238 kilometers north of Baghdad, is an ethnically mixed province for 1.2 million Kurds, Turkmens and Arabs. It has long been at the center of the disputed territories between Baghdad and Erbil.
