The leak occurred when a container loaded with liquid chlorine was knocked over by a crane, according to the deputy head of the region’s Port Authority.
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A chlorine leak caused by an overturned container in the port of Aqaba, Jordan, killed at least 12 and injured more than 250 on Monday (June 27).
The leak was triggered when a “line moving a container containing a toxic substance broke, causing the toxic substance to fall and leak”, explained the deputy head of the Port Authority of the region on state television Al-Mamlaka. In images published by the channel, a crane can be seen carrying the container and dropping it above the boat, from which quickly escapes a thick yellow cloud. Some twenty containers of liquefied gas “containing a high percentage of chlorine” had to be loaded onto the boat, according to the former director of the company in charge of managing the port.
The leak caused “the death of twelve people” and did “260 injured Jordanians and foreigners”, according to the government crisis unit formed after the incident. The health director of Aqaba, Jordan’s only seaport and one of the main ones on the Red Sea, said that “Aqaba’s hospitals were saturated and could no longer receive other wounded”, some of whom are in critical condition. He called on the people of Aqaba “to stay at home and close the windows as a precaution”stating that “the substance present in the atmosphere was very dangerous”. The government spokesman announced the formation of a commission of inquiry and the dispatch of medical reinforcements and equipment.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz presented his “sincere condolences to the Kingdom of Jordan” and “promised that the services of his ministry will provide any form of assistance” requested. The two countries have been linked by a peace treaty since 1994. The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, also offered his condolences.