Chlorine gas blast at port releases yellow death cloud
At least 12 killed and more than 260 injured when large cylinder plunges from crane in Aqaba dock
A chlorine gas explosion killed 12 people and injured more than 260, when a tank that fell from a crane released a poisonous yellow cloud at Jordan’s Aqaba port.
Footage on state-owned Al-Mamlaka TV showed the large cylinder, said to have been carrying about 30 tonnes of gas, plunging from a crane on a moored vessel and violently releasing the chlorine gas cloud.
The force of the blast sent a truck rolling down the dock, while port workers ran for their lives.
“At exactly 15.15 this afternoon, a chlorine gas leak occurred in the port of Aqaba as a result of the fall and explosion of a tank containing this substance,” the government’s crisis management cell said on Monday.
The death toll rose to 12 with 260 injured, both Jordanians and foreigners, it said, adding that almost half of the injured were being treated in hospitals.
Nearby areas were evacuated and residents told to stay indoors as emergency responders established a 500-metre cordon around the site of the incident, the crisis management cell said.
People were also evacuated from the southern beach of Aqaba, a Red Sea resort area.
The deputy chief of the Aqaba Region Ports Authority, Haj Hassan, told Al-Mamlaka that an “iron rope carrying a container containing a toxic substance broke”, leading to the fall and leak.
The channel also cited the former head of the company that operates the port, Mohammed al-Mubaidin, as saying that a vessel had been waiting to load almost 20 containers of liquefied gas “containing a very high percentage of chlorine”.
He added that the gas was heavy and “it is not easy for its gas clouds to move … as it concentrates in one area and is affected by wind movement”.
The fallen white tank, punctured and stained yellow from where the gas burst out, came to rest on the dock directly beside the Forest 6 vessel.
Ship-tracking websites said the deck cargo ship was built only this year and sailed under a Hong Kong flag.
Local media showed members of civil defence forces, some dressed in hazmat suits, as well as healthcare professionals rushing to the scene clad in masks.
The leak was unlikely to reach neighbouring Israel, a spokeswoman for that country’s environmental protection ministry said, noting that a northerly wind was blowing.
Jordan’s crisis management cell said authorities were “working to clear the scene of the accident from the effects of the leak, in preparation for the return of normal life”.
Trucks were seen lined in a row carrying similar containers at the time the accident occurred.
Prime Minister Bishr Khasawneh and Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya headed to the scene, state media reported.
The injured were transported to two state hospitals, one private facility and a field hospital.