Rescue teams continued on Sunday their search operations for two children who went missing after the waters of the Khabour River flooded homes in the Al-Meridian neighborhood of Al-Hasakah city in northern Syria due to heavy rains. Early on Friday, residents of the neighborhood, which is adjacent to the river, attempted to carry what belongings they could from their homes before fleeing from the incoming flood.
Taleb Al-Arji, the uncle of the missing children, stated, "The boys do not know how to swim, one of them is over 15 and the other is 17 years old. The father can swim and tried to save his children and himself but was unable to save the children because the water took them due to the muddy water and the remaining dirt and debris in the Khabour River; with the water, the boys were lost and drowned."
The floodwaters destroyed most of the property and homes of many residents in the neighborhood. Khalaf Al-Hussein, one of the flood victims, called on humanitarian organizations and relevant authorities to solve the flooding problem of the Khabour River, saying, "Our homes are gone, all our belongings are gone, 15 sheep and our milk cow were swept away with the flood; everything is gone."
Fatima Mohammed, 45 years old, recounted that, "At two o’clock after midnight, the neighbors knocked on our door and said that the Khabour was flooding. I took my children and brought them to their grandfather's house above. We managed to take a few items, and the rest stayed in the house. The water entered our house. We cannot now enter the house, only through the roof can we access it, and the water keeps rising more and more; it will fill the house."
Regarding the rescue operation, Ahmed Ali, head of the firefighting and rescue squad in Al-Hasakah, said, "We headed to the scene, meaning we checked the area; the water is fast and the torrents are very strong, so we were forced to conduct a search operation from the edges of the river." He added, "There’s some difficulty because the water is very strong and the flow is very intense, so we’re still searching for the missing."
Al-Hasakah governorate in northern Syria, which has been a focal point in the civil war, is already suffering from a difficult humanitarian situation.
