Floods destroy Mosul crossings, disconnecting two sides of the city
MOSUL, Iraq - Due to recent flooding of the Tigris River all makeshift crossing points have been dismantled by the Iraqi military, temporarily cutting off the two sides of Mosul city.
Residents fleeing the recently liberated Musherfa district of western Mosul are now trying to make it to safety on the eastern banks. They have to cross the river in small, unreliable fishing boats which are only capable of carrying five or six people at a time.
Loading up everything from clothes and food to injured or dead relatives, hundreds of families are attempting to cross the river.
"So many of my neighbors and friends have died. We were freed, but we are not happy because we lost the people closest to us,” said 45-year-old Mushref Mohamed, an ice factory worker from Musherfa, as reported by Reuters.
Residents fleeing the recently liberated Musherfa district of western Mosul are now trying to make it to safety on the eastern banks. They have to cross the river in small, unreliable fishing boats which are only capable of carrying five or six people at a time.
Loading up everything from clothes and food to injured or dead relatives, hundreds of families are attempting to cross the river.
Reuters has reported that mothers carrying babies, men in wheelchairs, and families of up to 15 people have been paying 1,000 Iraqi dinars ($0.86) per head to make the short journey, with many needing to make two or three trips which is taking hours.
Even military personnel carrying crates full of important documents must use these boats to cross the river, Reuters added, and the army initially intended on using steamboats to transport people, but now say they have run out of fuel.
In the months long U.S. backed Iraqi campaign to retake Mosul from ISIS, the city’s permanent bridges connecting the east and west have been mostly destroyed.
"So many of my neighbors and friends have died. We were freed, but we are not happy because we lost the people closest to us,” said 45-year-old Mushref Mohamed, an ice factory worker from Musherfa, as reported by Reuters.