News / Iraq

Iraq, US warn of possible Mosul Dam collapse

Monday, 29 February 2016 10:33 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 29 February 2016 10:32 PM ]

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.

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."

*The picture, taken on February 1, 2016, shows the Mosul Dam on the Tigris River, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the Iraqi city of Mosul. AFP*

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.

Construction of the 3.4-kilometer (2.1-mile)-long dam was completed in 1984 during the rule of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi government has tried to shore up the foundation by injecting mortar-like grout into the subsoil and cavities in order to control seepage.

The dam, formerly known as Saddam Dam, fell to the Daesh terrorist group in August 2014, raising fears the Takfiri group might blow it up and unleash a wall of water on Mosul and Baghdad that could kill a large number of civilians.

*An Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga stands guard near the Mosul Dam on the Tigris River, February 1, 2016. (AFP)*

Iraqi government forces and Kurdish fighters recaptured the dam two weeks later, but according to US officials, the threat of a collapse never went away since Daesh militants had stolen equipment and chased away technicians.

In early February, Iraq announced that it has awarded Italian firm Trevi a contract for the repair and maintenance of the dam. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced that his country would deploy 450 troops to protect the dam during the urgent repair work, which is expected to take 18 months.

Iraq's Minister of Water Resources Mohsin al-Shammari said earlier this month that there was only a "one in a thousand" chance the dam would fall down, adding that the solution was to build a new dam or set up a deep concrete support wall.

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