Earlier, Iraqi Premier Adil Abdul Mahdi declared three days of mourning across the country.

At least 90 people died when an overloaded ferry carrying families on an outing sank in the Tigris river in Mosul in northern Iraq, although that number is expected to rise.

The Council of Ministers said in a statement that official Newroz activities would also be cancelled out of respect for the victims, NRT reported.

“The Kurdistan Regional Government participates in the public mourning declared in Iraq and announces the suspension of all celebrations and official activities on the occasion of the feast of Newroz.”

KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani personally expressed his condolences to the families of the victims in a phone call with Nineveh Governor Nofal Hammadi on Thursday night.

Barzani said in the telephone call that Kurdistan Region was ready to provide assistance to the victims of the Mosul ferry disaster.

Barzani said he had instructed the authorities in Erbil and Duhok to provide “any kind of assistance to the people of Mosul in this regard,” the statement read.

Most of the casualties on the ferry were women and children who could not swim, said the head of Mosul’s Civil Defense Authority Husam Khalil.

Mobile phone footage showed the ferry sinking into the muddy water and people shouting for help. Among the dead were some 19 children and at least 52 women, medical sources said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi announced three days of mourning across Iraq and in the representative offices of Iraqi abroad following the incident. He also ordered an immediate investigation into the incident.

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