ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Three individuals drowned on Friday in a large gasoline storage tank outside the Kurdistan Region’s capital city of Erbil.

According to the Kurdistan Region’s civil defense authority, the incident occurred when an employee fell into the tank and died. Two members of the Erbil civil defense directorate who subsequently tried to extract the body from the tank also fell in and drowned.

“Today, at 4:11 am, the Erbil defense teams were informed of a drowning incident… in a fuel tank storage of one of the refineries in Shamamk town [Erbil province],” the Kurdistan Region’s Civil Defense Department said in a statement.

It went on to detail that “the teams immediately arrived on the scene to pull the dead body out… Unfortunately, after the arrival of a rescue team from the Erbil Civil Defense Directorate, two of our personnel died while trying to take the dead body out.”

Poor and unsafe conditions at the workplace cause myriad accidents across Iraq.

Every year, tens of laborers die in work-related accidents on sites in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, with the bulk of the incidents blamed on a lack of adherence to safety measures.

According to Iraq's Labor Code of 1987, employers are obliged to ensure safe working conditions and protect the employees in the workplace, ensuring adequate provision of protective equipment and sufficient training.