An elevator incident in Duhok resulted in the decapitation of a 14-year-old displaced girl, police said on Thursday.

The incident took place at 6:00 pm local time in one of the apartments of Newroz City in Duhok province, Semel district police revealed in a statement.

The elevator doors inadvertently closed on the girl, who died on the spot as her head was severed in the tragic accident, police added.

The girl’s name was Aya Hazim Younis, from Zummar, a town northwest of Mosul, who was forcibly displaced to Duhok a few years ago with her family after the rise of the Islamic State (IS) in northern Iraq 2014, Kurdistan 24 correspondent Ni’mat Maronisi reported. 

The body of Younis has been sent to the morgue in Duhok and the police have launched an investigation into the incident.

The Kurdistan Region is home to over 1.5 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have fled from Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) and other parts of Iraq. Duhok is one of the provinces which has become host to a substantial number of IDPs and refugees over the years.