"Our teams eventually discovered the body of the girl that had fallen into the [Bekhal] water near Khalaw Biyaw in Khalifan town," Karwan Mirawdali, a Civil Defense Unit official in Soran province, told Rudaw.
Her body was found washed ashore 20 kilometers from where she is believed to have drowned on June 30.
The girl, identified as Raqiya Hussein Ali, was a Shabak from Bartella. A tourist at the Bekhal river resort, she fell into the water around 1 kilometer from its waterfall, close to a hydro-power project.
Chia Mohammed, head of the Ruwanduz Tourism Department, told Rudaw in the immediate aftermath of the incident that “while the Bekhal resort itself abides by rules and regulations, there are "no safety measures at the spot where the child fell. We have at numerous times called on local officials to prohibit visitor access to that location."
He had also placed partial blame on the visitors themselves, who “do not abide by our rules and regulations."
Visitors from Kurdistan, Iraq, and beyond flock to the lakes and rivers of the Region to cool off during the sweltering summer heat. Bekhal, situated 65 kilometers northeast of Erbil, is one such destination. It is especially popular in the spring and early summer, when melting winter snow brings crisp clean water down from the mountains.
Seven people are known to have drowned in the Kurdistan Region’s lakes and rivers in the space of just four weeks.
Figures released by Region-wide emergency services in 2018 showed that approximately 100 people drown every year in its waters – 90 percent of casualties are tourists. The deaths have been attributed in part to poor enforcement of safety regulations.
A 4-year-old from Baghdad drowned at Bekhal on June 5 during the Eid holidays. His body has yet to be recovered, according to Mirawdali.
In Zakho, Duhok province, five members of the same family drowned while swimming in the Little Khabour River on June 28. The bodies of two were missing for three days before being recovered on July 1.
After the capsize of a Mosul ferry killed 100 people on March 21, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced stricter regulations for waterfront attractions, insisting patrons and passengers wear life jackets or be subject to punishment.
