Workers fleeing, pursued by a thick cloud of yellow smoke.

These are the shocking images of the fall of a container in the port of Aqaba in Jordan, Monday, June 27.

Thirteen people were killed and 260 others injured by this accidental release of chlorine, a highly toxic gas.

Aqaba, one of the main ports on the Red Sea, is the only seaport in the Hashemite Kingdom, through which most Jordanian imports and exports pass.

Aqaba is also an important seaside resort.

🔴 #Jordan ☢️


At least 10 dead and more than 200 injured this Monday following the fall of a container filled with toxic gas in the port of #Aqaba.

The ecological consequences are still unknown.

pic.twitter.com/Odjx9cXIRC

— Brains not available (@CerveauxNon) June 27, 2022

"The situation in Aqaba is now under control," Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh told reporters, adding that "the port is functioning normally."

According to the latest official report, 13 people, 8 Jordanians and 5 foreigners, died of asphyxiation and 260 were injured, of whom 123 are still hospitalized.

Among the injured, Assadallah al-Jazi, 25, an employee of a chemical fertilizer company, recounts the first moments of the accident under his respiratory mask.

"We didn't hear an explosion, but we smelled toxic material and saw a yellow cloud. Then there were people choking," he told AFP. .

Broken rope

Monday afternoon, a chlorine leak occurred at the port, after a container with liquid gas fell, according to the government crisis unit.

Television footage shows a crane carrying the container, before dropping it over the boat.

After the shock, a thick yellow cloud escapes instantly, while people try to flee.

According to the former director of the company in charge of managing the port, some twenty containers of liquefied gas "containing a high percentage of chlorine" were to be loaded on the ship.

Aqaba Region Ports Authority Deputy Chief Haj Hassan said a "rope moving a container of a toxic substance had broken resulting in [her] falling and escape of the toxic substance".

According to the Head of Tourism and Environment at the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, Nidal al-Majali, "the [low] speed and direction of the wind at the scene of the accident contributed prevent the spread of the [toxic] material".

According to the Prime Minister present at the port of Aqaba, Bicher al-Khasawneh, "life has resumed its course, there is no longer any concentration of gas in the air and the number of hospitalizations is decreasing".

He specified that the security cordons established the day before had been lifted, except for a radius of 500 meters around the site of the accident and said that he had instructed the Minister of the Interior, General Mazen al-Faraya, to direct the accident investigation.

Port activities resume on Tuesday, with the exception of Pier 4, where the accident took place, to "be able to ensure that the place is completely safe", according to General Faraya.

The city of Aqaba, located in the eponymous gulf, is located on the Israeli border, less than fifteen kilometers north of Saudi Arabia, while the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula is on the other side of the gulf, at a ten kilometers.

"Toxic Smell and Yellow Cloud"

According to the WHO, chlorine is "corrosive to the eyes, the skin and the respiratory system".

Inhaling it can "cause pneumonia, pulmonary edema" and lead to death.

This substance is also "very toxic to aquatic organisms".

The wounded admitted to hospitals in Aqaba mainly suffer from respiratory problems.

"All the cases are alike, suffering from shortness of breath, strong cough and dizziness", explained to AFP doctor Rouba Aamawi of the Islamic hospital in Aqaba which received 70 wounded, some of whom were placed on a respirator.

On the other hand, the director of the silos, Imad Tarawneh, indicated that the work was stopped for two days, the time "to examine the stocks of grain in the silos of Aqaba".

"The silos are concrete and hermetically sealed, but despite this, all the necessary precautions have been taken, and all loading and unloading operations have been stopped," he added, assuring that there was no "currently no boat carrying grain".

According to the director of the Aqaba Company for the Operation and Management of Ports, Khaled Maayta, the wheat silos are 600 meters from the accident site.

With AFP

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