Mohammed Luqman, who lives in the town of Qadir Karam, helped with efforts to pull the dead fish out of the water. “I was told to go in the water and help. I did. My shoulders have all turned red because of the water. When I was in the water, it felt like my body was burning,” he said.
Three suspects have been arrested by the Qadir Karam Forestry Police.
“Preliminary investigations have shown that the water was poisoned, leading to the death of a large number of fish,” said Rokan Khalil, head of Qadir Karam Forestry Police. Investigations are ongoing and he expects more arrests could be made.
Police have not disclosed what was put into the water.
Locals, who have been working for years to protect the river environment, are worried the dead fish will damage tourism to the area.
“For a while the Qadir Karam Forestry Police and the residents of Qadir Karam, we have been protecting the water under this bridge because there were beautiful fish there and it has become a tourist place. The fish created beautiful scenery for the area. I believe some people from around Qadir Karam and inside Qadir Karam have poisoned the fish, wasting our years of work,” said Swara Ahmed.
Government officials expect millions of fish could die in Kurdistan Region’s waterways this year because of low water levels. Unchecked pollution also causes mass fish deaths annually.
The same problem exists downstream in Iraqi provinces. On July 1, environmental organization Humat Dijlah reported thousands of fish died in the marshes of Maysan province.
Translation by Zhelwan Zeyad Wali
Video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed
