When 25-year-old Issa Ismail headed to work on 15 June 2021, little did he know that the wedding assignment he was contracted for would be his last. The chef from Zakho District in northern Iraq fell into a vat of chicken soup that he was cooking and sustained serious burns to which he succumbed later.
A father of three, Ismail was cooking in the kitchen of a wedding hall in Duhok Governorate, a governorate in the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, when the tragic accident occurred. "The deceased has been working as a cook for 8 years, where he cooked food at wedding parties, mourning councils and various ceremonies, and for two years he has been working in two party halls for 25,000 dinars per day," told Zervan Hosni, a relative of Ismail, to the Rudaw Media Network.
A Fata Fall
According to several Middle Eastern media outlets, Muhammad Ismail, father of the late chef, said that his son was preparing dinner for a wedding celebration being held at the Hazel Hall, a large wedding venue in the region. Unfortunately, he lost his footing and fell into the large pot of chicken soup that he was cooking. He sustained severe burn injuries.
Following the incident, he was rushed to a hospital in the neighboring city of Dohuk for immediate medical attention. Despite the efforts of the hospital staff, the young chef passed away as a result of his severe injuries five days later on 21 June 2021. Ismail had suffered third-degree burns across 70 percent of his body.
Life Tragically Cut Short
The news about Ismail's death—father of two daughters and a 6-month-old son—lead to an outpour of condolences on local social media, the Gulf News reported. According to the news outlet, commentators on Kurdish and Iraqi social media platforms emphasized the need to ramp up safety and preventive measures in kitchens and restaurants.
A similar tragedy occurred at a school in Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh, India, when a three-year-old child fell into a cauldron of boiling curry in February 2020. The girl, who was identified as Anchal, suffered serious burns and succumbed to her injuries.
According to reports, the girl was in the company of her older brother — also a student in the school— when the horrific accident occurred. However, his cries for help were unable to reach the cook as he was engrossed in his phone with his earphones on.
