The death toll of the ferry sinking incident in Tigris River in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul on Thursday rose to 93, most of them women and children, the Interior Ministry said.
“We have 93 people killed in the sinking ferry inMosul, and the search operations continued for more possible victims,”Saad Maan, a ministry spokesman, said in a press release.
No accurate figures are available yet about the number ofpeople the ferry was carrying when the accident happened, reports Xinhua newsagency.
“Investigation is underway, and apparently the capacityof the ferry was below the number of passengers aboard,” Maan saidearlier.
Meanwhile, a statement by the Iraqi Supreme JudicialCouncil, said Mosul investigation court has decided to arrest nine workersresponsible for the ferry.
“The court also issued an arrest warrant for the ownerof the ferry and the owner of the island,” the statement added.
Earlier, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi ordered aninvestigation into the sinking of the ferry in Mosul.
“With pain and sadness, we follow up the ferry incidentin the city of Mosul, which killed dozens of innocent women, men andchildren,” Abdul Mahdi said in a statement issued by his office.
The Iraqi prime minister “extends his condolences tothe families of the victims and the people of Iraq,” the statement said.
He has ordered “an immediate investigation into theincident (to be carried out) within 24 hours to show the truth and to bringthose who are behind the incident to justice,” it added.
Earlier in the day, a civil defence source said dozens ofpeople, mostly children and women, drowned in the Tigris River when a ferry,owned by a tourism office, was carrying passengers from the bank of the riverto a tourist island in the river in northern Mosul.
The ferry was overloaded with more than 100 people, the sourcesaid, adding that the ferry was originally designed to carry some 30 people.