Up to 71 people died and 55 others rescued on Thursday as a ferry sank in Tigris River in Iraq's northern city of Mosul, the Interior Ministry said.
"The latest report said 71 people died in the sinking ferry incident in Mosul, while 55 others were rescued, including 19 children," Saad Maan, a ministry spokesman, said in a statement.
Many women and children were among the casualties, Maan added.
"Investigation is underway, and apparently the capacity of the ferry was below the number of passengers aboard," he noted.
Earlier, Sayf al-Badr, spokesman of the Iraqi Health Ministry, said at least 55 bodies were recovered and 30 others rescued in the incident.
He said 33 of the recovered bodies were women, 12 were children and 10 were men.
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.
The civil defense, police and civilians were still searching for victims in the river until the sunset, according to the source.
