Middle EastPorts and Logistics

13 dead, hundreds injured following chlorine leak at Aqaba port

Thirteen people have died and 251 have been injured in a toxic gas leak from a container carrying 25 tonnes of chlorine which dropped onto the deck of a ship at Jordan’s Aqaba port yesterday, sending deadly yellow clouds into the surrounding area.

City health authorities advised residents to close their windows and stay in their homes as the noxious yellow plume spread rapidly.

The deputy chief of the Aqaba Region Ports Authority, Haj Hassan, told local media that a “cable carrying a container containing a toxic substance broke, resulting in the fall and escape of the poisonous substance”.

The accident happened while loading was underway of a recently delivered deck cargo ship, Forest 6.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.

Comments

  1. This should act as a warning to ports and companies planning to handle bulk cargoes of ammonia.

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