Five people sentenced to prison terms for a chlorine leak in 2022 in the port of Aqaba

July 17 (EUROPA PRESS) –

A Jordanian court has sentenced five people to three years in prison for their responsibility in the death of thirteen people in June 2022 due to a chlorine gas leak in the port of the city of Aqaba, in the south of the country, attributed to the fall of a tank with this product from a crane.

The Court of First Instance of Aqaba has indicated that those sentenced are the director of the Department of Operations of the Company for the Management and Operations of the Port of Aqaba (ACPOM), the director of the Department of Public Security, the director of the Department of Cargo and Unloading, the Loading and Unloading shift manager and a worker from the aforementioned company.

Likewise, it has indicated that the ACPOM is responsible for a series of violations of the regulations that resulted in deaths and property damage, for which it has imposed a fine of 3,000 dinars (about 3,760 euros), as reported by the Jordanian state agency. News, Petra.

After the incident, the Jordanian government stated that the event was caused by the “inadequate” metal cable used by the crane to lift the tank, which had a load three times its resistance, after which it announced the dissolution of the executive board of the (ACPOM).