Five jailed for deadly Jordan port gas leak

AMMAN, Jordan - A Jordanian court Sunday sentenced five people to three years in jail for a gas leak in the port of Aqaba last year that left 13 dead, a judicial source said.

A tank of chlorine gas fell as it was being loaded by crane onto a ship in the Red Sea port on June 27, 2022, killing eight Jordanians and five Vietnamese, as well as injuring 260 others.

The source told AFP a court in Aqaba convicted the heads of operations at the state-owned port and at the public safety department, as well as the chief of loading and unloading operations, its loading shift leader and another port employee.

Five others were acquitted for lack of evidence in the trial that opened last July with the defendants facing charges of negligence and security failings.

The gas tank's weight far exceeded the maximum load of the crane cable being used to load it, a government investigation found.

Aqaba is Jordan's only maritime gateway and a transit point for the lion's share of its imports and exports. - AFP