'Four teens dead in Irbid road accident'

AMMAN — Three people, who were injured in a traffic accident that claimed the lives of four teenagers in Irbid, 80km north of the capital, over the weekend, were recovering in hospital in fair condition on Saturday, official sources said.

The three were in a pickup truck along with the four other victims when their vehicle lost control, as it descended a steep hill and rolled over several times, a senior traffic official said.

“The truck driver changed lanes suddenly, which caused the vehicle to slam into the median strip and roll over,” the traffic official told The Jordan Times.

The strong impact and “the fact that some passengers were sitting in the back of the truck caused the immediate death of three children aged 13, 14 and 17,” according to the traffic official.

A fourth passenger, aged 18, succumbed to his wounds on Saturday, a senior medical source said.

Among the deceased teenagers, two were brothers and two were cousins, the medical source added. 

The three who were injured are being treated at Prince Rashid Military Hospital, the medical official told The Jordan Times.

A total of 10,600 accidents were recorded in 2015, resulting in the death of 608 people and injury of nearly 16,800, according to the Central Traffic Department. 

Around 425 road accidents were recorded in the first quarter of the current year, registering some 163 deaths, a department official said in previous remarks to The Jordan Times. 

Around 8 per cent of the 1.42 million vehicles registered in the Kingdom are involved in causing traffic accidents each year, according to the Jordan Insurance Federation.