Detroit area organization steps up to aid families of victims of ferry accident in Iraq

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Tragedy in Iraq. A ferry overloaded with people celebrating the country's Mother's Day sinking in the Tigris River.

More than 100 people were killed when the ferry capsized last week. Now an organization in metro Detroit is stepping up to help the families of the victims.

"They are going for a picnic, for fun," said Nidhal Garmo. 

Nidhal Garmo, a metro Detroit pharmacist and founder of One World Medical Mission - showed FOX 2 the video that's brought her to tears.

"I cried," she said. "I can't sleep."

"It was Mother's Day in the Middle East on March 21st - nearly 200 people on board a ferry boat in Mosul.  The boat was overloaded and it overturned - killing at least 100 people videos from her home country show children without parents.

"His mom and two of the brothers are dead," Garmo said.

And loved ones lined the banks of the Tigris looking for the bodies of their relatives.

"These people will need food, will need medicine," she said. "Think about the trauma."

Garmo has partnered with a group called Volunteer with Us on the ground in Mosul. So far she's donated $1,000 and raised another $1,500 but she's hoping more people will help her, help them.

"Whatever we save - let's say we raise a thousand - it's going to go to them - just to give them hope to live, these people - they lost families," she said.

Garmo's charity - One World Medical Mission - has been donating food, clothing, and medical supplies to the people of war-torn Iraq since 2007. 

She goes there every year bringing much needed aid to the people - her efforts have been honored over and over again - but the victims of this tragedy - she says - need her help and yours - right now.

"This is our country and our people," she said. "(It's) very hard."

If you'd like to get involved with Garmo's relief efforts in Iraq - go to her website https://owmm.org/