Video footage has come up on social media that shows the moment at which a containerized gas canister fell as it was being loaded onto a ship in Jordan’s port of Aqaba earlier today. Jordanian authorities said at least 12 people were killed, and well over 200 injured, after the gas inside, reportedly chlorine or a chlorine-heavy mixture, leaked out.
The exact contents of the canister are not known The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom reported that it had 25 tons of chlorine gas inside. However, Deputy Chief of the Aqaba Region Ports Authority, Haj Hassan, only told Jordan’s public broadcaster that the tank had a “toxic substance” inside. Mohammed al-Mubaidin, a former head of the company that operates the Port of Aqaba, told that outlet the ship was there to take on a load of 20 containers “containing a very high percentage of chlorine.”
The spokesman for the General Security Directorate, Amer Al Sartawi, also said: “a tanker filled with a toxic gaseous substance fell during transport, which led to a gas leakage at the site.”
Amal Obeidat, head of Aqaba’s Health Department suggested that the citizens in the area “stay indoors and close the windows,” in an address on state television. “This gas is critical.” Images of the perforated gas tank have also begun to circulate on social media.
Jordan’s Prime Minister, Bisher Al-Khasawneh, and the Minister of Interior, Mazin Abdellah Hilal Al Farrayeh, traveled directly to Aqaba to analyze the situation.
Jordan’s National Center for Security & Crises Management confirmed that eight of those who lost their lives because of the leak were from Jordan, while four were foreign nationals. At the time of writing, the number of injured in the incident has increased to 260.
Jordan’s Minister for Information told Sky News Arabia that winds blowing in the opposite direction of the port helped prevent the spread of the gas to the population areas of Aqaba. Former Deputy Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Aqaba Authority, Sharhabeel Madi, told state television in Jordan that he expects the Aqaba port to be reopened in less than 48 hours.