Iraq, US warn of possible Mosul Dam collapse
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Employees work at strengthening the Mosul Dam in northern Iraq, February 3, 2016. (Reuters)
The Iraqi government and the US embassy in the Arab country have issued separate warnings to the residents living along the Tigris River about the threat of a possible collapse of the Mosul Dam, the country’s largest.
According to Press TV, in a late Sunday statement, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi asked the residents to evacuate the area and move at least six kilometers (3.7 miles) away from the river banks.
The statement said that precautions were being taken, but described the possibility of the collapse of the dam, located some 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the Iraqi city of Mosul, as "extremely small."
However, the US embassy said in a similar statement that the risk of the collapse is “serious and unprecedented.”
"We have no specific information that indicates when a breach might occur, but out of an abundance of caution, we would like to underscore that prompt evacuation offers the most effective tool to save lives of the hundreds of thousands of people," the statement said.
According to the statement, a potential collapse of the dam could inundate Mosul by as much as 70 feet (21 meters) of water within hours and kill nearly 1.5 million Iraqis living along the Tigris.
ME
