The woman who drowned has been identified as Zahra Hashim. She and her family are from Baghdad and were vacationing in the Kurdistan Region when tragedy struck on Sunday morning.
The chair Hashim was sitting in slipped and she fell into the river, getting swept away, explained the young brother of the man who tried to save her.
Jabar Osman Said, 19, is from the local area. Hearing the woman’s cries, he jumped into the river to help her.
“My brother was sleeping when he heard the woman's call for help. He came to rescue the woman, but went down with her. The woman took the hand of my brother. The woman died and my brother went under the water,” explained Sarkar.
This is the second death for this family this year – another brother of Jabar died in a car accident.
The Kurdistan Region is a popular tourist destination drawing many Iraqis eager to escape the summer heat and relax in the region’s cool mountains.
