Seven killed, four injured in Aqaba road accident

AMMAN — Seven people were killed and four others injured on Wednesday in a road accident in Aqaba, official sources said.

The accident, which occurred at around 6:30pm near Gate 5 in the Port of Aqaba, involved two vehicles with Jordanian and Saudi licence plates that were heading towards Saudi Arabia, a senior Civil Defence Department (CDD) official told The Jordan Times.

“One of the vehicles was speeding downhill and slammed into the second vehicle from the rear,” the CDD official added.

The strong impact caused the second vehicle to fall over the bridge and land on the lower street, the official noted.

Seven people died on the spot and four others were injured, most of them in critical condition, according to the CDD official, who added that four of the people who died were Jordanians.

“We have three unidentified bodies and are working to identify them. It was a horrific accident and horrific scene,” the official said. 

Police said they are investigating the incident.

Around 11,004 accidents associated with human injury were registered in 2012, according to official figures.

The number of road-related deaths in Jordan stood at 816 in the same year. Overall, there were 17,143 injuries related to traffic accidents in the country.

Road accidents over the past decade have killed 7,869 people and injured 171,143 in the Kingdom, according to Public Security Department estimates.