TEHRAN, November 02 - Jordan’s education and tourism ministers have resigned after flash floods killed 21 people, mostly children, during a school outing at a resort in the capital Amman last Thursday.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - "Education Minister Azmi Mahafzah and Tourism Minister Lina Annab submitted their resignations to Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz," a Jordanian official told AFP.
Annab wrote on Twitter that she was stepping down “in the shadow of the general political climate and the painful period.”
A probe set up by the Parliament into the incident blamed some Jordanian ministers for “negligence.” Several members of the legislature have also called for the ministers to step down.
The school trip had been ordered despite ominous weather forecasts, according to media reports.
The floods, which had been triggered by heavy downpours, filled up valleys and ravines, washing up people and livestock towards the Dead Sea.
They hit the children, their teachers, and others on the trip after all stepped down from their bus in the Zarqa Ma’in gorge in Amman. Fifteen of the fatalities were children.
The incident marked one of the deadliest in the kingdom in decades, becoming known as “Black Thursday.”
Dozens others were also injured during the incident, while 37 others have been rescued during dramatic search operations which involved helicopters and divers.
King Abdullah II, who described the incident as a “huge tragedy,” was forced to cancel a planned visit to Bahrain the following day.
He appointed a new government headed by al-Razzaz, a former World Bank economist, in June after economic protests swept the country.
The protests broke out after the government announced a fuel price rise of up to 5.5 percent and a 19-percent hike in electricity prices. The anger had been bubbling up since January, when Amman brought a series of tax rises into force.
The cash-strapped country has been required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to implement the spikes in exchange for a $723-million loan it secured back in 2016.
Source: Presstv
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