ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Local authorities in Erbil province announced Thursday that they had discovered the body of a man who had gone missing in the mountainous areas of Barzan region.

The deceased, identified as Ardawan Hassan Nabi, 37, had left home on Wednesday to harvest spring herbs in Barzan’s mountains.

Soran’s civil defense said Nabi had fallen from a mountain, with the tragic incident marking the fourth death in the past month among those who flocked to the Kurdistan Region’s countryside and mountains to harvest seasonal herbs.

The three previous fatalities came from landmine explosions - the suspected remnants of the eight-year-long Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s.

“Last night, we were informed that a man had gone missing in the Barzan area. Our teams immediately set off to the scene and started searching. After eight hours of searching, we discovered his dead body on Mount Bradost,” Rawand Hawdiyani, spokesperson of the Soran civil defense, told The New Region.

Hawdiyani said Nabi died after “plunging down the mountain.”

The dead body has been transferred to the Soran Forensic Department.

Every year during spring, people from urban areas flock to the countryside and mountainous regions for picnicking and harvesting wild herbs and plants, running the risk of stumbling across unexploded ordnance and sustaining injuries navigating the rugged terrain.

Spring marks the time in which fresh herbs may be harvested, with herbs such as spear thistle, arum, rheum ribes, tolaka being in high demand and many venturing into the mountains to gather them for sale in local markets.