12 January 2016•Update: 12 January 2016
WASHINGTON
The U.S. has sent technical experts to examine the structural integrity of Iraq's largest dam, currently at risk of collapse, a spokesman said Monday.
Insufficient maintenance has contributed to the threat.
"We continue to support Iraqi-led efforts to help take measures to repair the dam to prevent a potential humanitarian crisis and educate the Iraqi people about the potential damages of a dam breach," said State Department spokesman John Kirby. "We sent technical experts to assess the dam's structural integrity."
The dam in Mosul currently faces a potential collapse, 16 months after the city was reclaimed by Iraqi and Kurdish forces from Daesh militants.
"An estimated 500,000 people could be killed while more than a million could be rendered homeless if the dam, Iraq's largest, were to collapse in the spring, when the Tigris (river) is swollen by rain and melting snow," according to the New York Times.
