Amman commercial complex evacuated over suspected gas leak

AMMAN — The Civil Defence Department (CDD) on Thursday evacuated a commercial complex located in the 7th Circle area due to a “suspected” gas leak, according to CDD officials and an eyewitness.

Two men working at the complex were rushed to hospital in the morning after they suffered from shortness of breath due to gas inhalation, according to the CDD.

The complex, which is located on Abdullah Ghosheh Street, houses business offices, warehouses, medical labs, a food outlet, a gym and retail shops, among others, according to the CDD, whose teams inspected the facility’s gas and air-conditioning systems, and the medical labs.

“Preliminary inspections didn’t reveal any gas leakage... A team specialised in handling hazardous materials was summoned to the site to identify the kind of gas and its source,” the CDD said.

A CDD official noted that gas detection devices didn’t indicate emission or leakage of hazardous gases such as methane or ammonia.

Mohammad Suleimany, an engineer who works at one of the companies located in the commercial complex, told The Jordan Times that CDD personnel evacuated the building in the morning, and banned employees and people from entering the premises.

“There was a strong and strange smell in the building, something like a gas or a chemical material. All the employees stood outside the building waiting for the CDD to discover the source of the smell,” Suleimany said.

He added that the CDD cut off electricity in the building as a safety measure. 

Another CDD official told The Jordan Times that CDD teams found a plastic bag containing pesticides.

“The source of the smell or the gas has not been identified yet, but maybe it came from the pesticides that our teams found,” the CDD officer noted.