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AMMAN (Reuters) – Rescuers searched the shores of the Jordanian Dead Sea Resort Friday for survivors after rainstorms sparked sudden floods that killed at least 20 people, most of them children. school.
Thirty-seven people were rescued during a major operation involving helicopters, army and divers looking for flood survivors who swept the valleys up to the shores of the region, the lowest point on the planet, indicated sources of civil defense.
Police Chief Brigadier General Farid al Sharaa told state television that torrential rains had washed away a bus carrying 44 children and teachers who were on a class trip to picnic in this destination. popular.
The national flag was half-masted at half mast while public opinion and politicians began to ask questions to local media about the preparation of national emergency services to deal with such disaster.
Prime Minister Omar Razzaz said that it appeared that the school had violated the regulations by proceeding to the trip that had been banned in the Dead Sea region because of bad weather.
An unknown number of people were still missing, hospital sources said.
A bridge on one of the Dead Sea cliffs had collapsed under the rain, the first after the end of the summer season.
The families of the victims searched the hilly area after the search teams had suspended their operations overnight for a few hours, a witness said.
An Israeli neighbor sent search and rescue helicopters to help, a statement from the Israeli army said, adding that the team dispatched to Amman's request was operating on the Jordanian side of the sea dead.
(Report by Suleiman Al-Khalidi, edited by Michael Perry and Richard Balmforth)
