BAGHDAD, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Iraq on Thursday declared three-day mourning for the victims of the ferry sinking in the northern city of Mosul, which left at least 93 dead.
A statement by the media office of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who is on a visit to Mosul, some 400 km north of the capital Baghdad, declared "official mourning in all parts of Iraq and in the embassies and (diplomatic) representations of Iraq abroad for three days from Thursday."
On Thursday evening, Abdul Mahdi paid a surprise visit to Mosul, capital of Nineveh Province, and held a meeting with Nineveh's Operations Command, which is responsible for the security of Nineveh.
"We condole the families of the victims of the ferry on behalf of all Iraqis, and we are here a few hours after the ferry incident to follow up the investigation," Abdul Mahdi told reporters in Mosul.
Earlier, Abdul Mahdi ordered an investigation into the ferry sinking.
"With pain and sadness, we follow up the ferry incident in the city of Mosul, which killed dozens of innocent women, men and children," Abdul Mahdi said in a statement issued by his office.
Earlier in the day, a civil defense source said dozens of people, mostly children and women, drowned in the Tigris River when a ferry, owned by a tourism office, was carrying passengers from the bank of the river to a tourist island in the river in northern Mosul.
The ferry was overloaded with more than 100 people, the source said, adding that the ferry was originally designed to carry some 30 people.
