Thirteen Pakistanis killed in Jordan valley farm fire: Civil defense statement

Thirteen Pakistanis killed in Jordan valley farm fire: Civil defense statement
December 2, 2019, 10:45 am

Thirteen Pakistanis, including eight children, died when a fire swept through their makeshift dwellings on a farming estate in the Jordan Valley, Jordan’s civil defense said on Monday.

There were three other injuries in the fire that broke out after midnight that initial signs showed could have been an electrical fire, civil defense spokesman Iyad al Amre said in a statement.

Thousands of foreign laborers live in wretched conditions in private farms in the Jordan Valley, a fertile vegetable and fruit growing area.

Another civil defense source said two families lived in corrugated iron sheds that housed immigrant laborers and that a police investigation had been opened into the incident.

Three other people were taken to hospital suffering from shock and burns.

Jordan has in recent years seen several deadly incidents among Syrian refugees living in camps during the winter, such as fires caused by electrical faults or choking from domestic gas stoves.

source: Reuters

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