Death toll in Jordan flood rises to 20, mostly children

DEAD SEA, Jordan (AP) — The death toll from flash floods near Jordan’s shore of the Dead Sea rose to 20 on Friday, in what Civil Defense officials said was one of the deadliest incidents in the kingdom involving schoolchildren.

The search for survivors continued after daybreak, with helicopters and teams with sniffer dogs scouring the rocky slopes near the Dead Sea in the Jordan Valley.

The body of a 12-year-old girl was found early on Friday and several more people were still feared missing, said the director general of the Civil Defense, Mustafa al-Basaiah.

Thirteen of the dead and 26 of about three dozen people injured in Thursday’s flash floods were middle school children, officials said.

They said three of those killed, including two students, were Iraqis living in Amman.

The incident began early Thursday afternoon when 37 students from an Amman private school, along with seven adult chaperones, as well as other visitors were taking a break at hot springs several kilometers from the Dead Sea shores.

Sudden heavy rains sent flash floods surging toward them from higher ground, sweeping them away, some as far as the Dead Sea, officials said.

A complex rescue operation involving helicopters, divers, sniffer dogs and hundreds of searchers continued into the night Thursday and resumed Friday.

Israel’s military said it also dispatched a rescue team at the request of the Jordanian government.

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