Seven killed in Azraq, Tafileh accidents

AMMAN — Seven people, including four Egyptians, were killed and three others were critically injured on Sunday in two traffic accidents in Azraq and Tafileh governorates, official sources said.

The first accident, which claimed the lives of five people, involved a mini-bus and a trailer which were heading in the same direction on the Azraq Highway on Sunday morning, a senior traffic official said.

“The driver of the bus attempted to overpass the trailer but decided not to afterwards and, when he tried to return to his previous lane, he hit the back of the trailer,” the traffic official told The Jordan Times.

The impact caused the mini-bus to “spin in front of the trailer and was run over by the larger vehicle then the two vehicles skidded some 10 metres and slammed into two parked vehicles on the side road”, the official added.

“All five passengers, including four Egyptians, were killed instantly and our traffic officers who rushed to the scene ruled that the mini-bus driver, who is Jordanian, was at fault,” a second official source said.

The bodies were taken to a nearby hospital for autopsy, the second source said.

On Sunday night, two people were killed and three were critically injured when two cars collided in the Eis area in Tafileh, according to the Civil Defence Department (CDD).

The three injured were rushed to Prince Zeid Bin Hussein, and the bodies are expected to be referred to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine for autopsy, the CDD said in a statement.

According to Public Security Department  statistics, there were 10,835 road accidents in 2016, resulting in 750 deaths and 17,435 injuries.