WASHINGTON, Oct 30: Iraq’s largest dam is in danger of collapse and hundreds of thousands of people are at risk from a massive inundation in Mosul and Baghdad, according to US documents released on Tuesday.

US experts have warned Baghdad that the Mosul Dam in northern Iraq could buckle under the water pressure and let loose a 20 meter (66 foot) wave onto the regions below, based on assessments by the US Army Corps of Engineers (ACE).

“The Mosul Dam is judged to have an unacceptable annual failure probability,” the ACE said in a draft report.

“In terms of internal erosion potential of the foundation, the Mosul Dam is the most dangerous dam in the world .... If a small problem (at) Mosul Dam occurs, failure is likely,” the ACE concluded last year.

The ACE comments were included in a review of dam fortification work by the US Special Inspector-General for Iraqi Construction (SIGIC) dated October 29 and released on the Internet on Tuesday.

The SIGIC report also includes a May 3, 2007 letter to US-installed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki from US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and US military Commander General David Petraeus in which they warned of the risk of a massive disaster if the dam breaks.

“A catastrophic failure of the Mosul Dam would result in flooding along the Tigris River all the way to Baghdad,” the two US officials said, noting that just 50 kilometers (30 miles) downstream is the city of Mosul, with 1.7 million people.

“Assuming a worst case scenario, an instantaneous failure of the Mosul Dam filled to its maximum operating level could result in a flood wave 20 meters deep at the city of Mosul, which would result in a significant loss of life and property.

The SIGIC report also said the 27 million dollars project launched two years ago to help strengthen the dam has been marred by incompetence and mismanagement.

The report said SIGIC’s most recent inspection concludes that the project has made no headway in improving grout injection operations.

“At the time of our site visit, approximately 19.4 million dollars worth of equipment and materials delivered to the Mosul Dam ... currently do not provide benefit to the Ministry of Water Resources,” said the SIGIC report.—AFP