Iraq
Iraqi youths swim in the Shatt al-Arab waterway at the end of a hot summer day in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on August 11, 2023. Photo: Hussein Faleh/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Five teenagers drowned while swimming in the Shwaycha Marsh in Iraq’s Wasit province, in an incident local officials say was caused by rising water levels and a lack of safety equipment.
Habib Badri, head of the security committee of the Wasit Provincial Council, told Rudaw on Monday that the incident occurred Sunday evening. “The five teenagers were all under 15, residents of the provincial center, and members of the Drie tribe,” he said.
Badri added that the tragedy was due to the absence of “safety equipment to prevent drowning while swimming.”
He confirmed that “after the completion of procedures at the Wasit forensic medicine department, the bodies were laid to rest.”
According to Badri, environmental conditions contributed to the accident. Rising water levels in the marsh, caused by heavy rainfall, were a key factor.
In response, the Wasit Police Command issued a warning urging families to prevent children from swimming in unsafe or unregulated water bodies.
The Shwaycha Marsh, located east of the Tigris River and west of Kut district, is a common recreational site for picnics and swimming.
Drowning incidents remain a recurring concern in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. On Sunday, three members of a single family died in a pond in Duhok province’s Zakho administration.
Earlier this year, two young boys drowned in the Sirwan River in Diyala province.
Civil defense data indicates that at least 61 drowning-related deaths were recorded in the Kurdistan Region in 2025, with similar figures reported in previous years, often linked to unsafe swimming conditions and a lack of proper equipment.
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