Baghdad, Mar 21 (UNI) At least 71 people died on Thursday as an overloaded ferry sunk in the Tigris River near Mosul in Iraq.
Most of the casualties on the ferry were women and children who could not swim, said the head of Mosul's Civil Defence Authority, Husam Khalil.
“The number of rescued people has reached 55, including 19 children. A total of 71 people died, including men, women and children,” Al Jazeera quoted him as saying.
A tourist ferry with hundreds of people aboard capsized in the Tigris River in Mosul earlier in the day.

According to preliminary data, the accident might have been caused by the excessive number of passengers.
The second possible cause for the accident is the increased water level in the Tigris River provoked by the opening of floodgates in the Mosul Dam.
UNI XC TV 2207