AMMAN, July 16 (Xinhua) -- A Jordanian court on Sunday sentenced five people to three years in prison over the deadly chlorine gas leak at the southern port of Aqaba in 2022, the state-run Petra news agency reported.
The five convicted by the Aqaba Court of First Instance are all from Aqaba Company for Ports Operation and Management, four executives and one ordinary worker, according to Petra.
The court also found the company guilty and ordered it to pay a fine of 3,000 Jordanian dinars (4,234 U.S. dollars).
A total of 13 people, including five foreigners, were killed in the toxic gas leak on June 27, 2022, at the Aqaba port, after a cable lifting a storage tank filled with 25 tonnes of chlorine snapped, sending the tank crashing down to the deck of a ship at the port.
An investigation later showed that the main cause of the gas leak incident was the lack of conformity of the metallic cable to the weight of the cargo, which resulted in the break of the cable. ■
