At least six dead as bus overturns near Irbid

AMMAN — At least six people died and 37 were injured on Tuesday when a bus overturned on the road connecting Irbid and Mafraq, said Irbid Governor Radwan Otoum.

The injured were evacuated to King Abdullah I University Hospital and Prince Rashid Hospital, Otoum told The Jordan Times.

He noted that a joint force from Irbid's Civil Defence Department (CDD) and the Public Security Department (PSD) responded to the incident on Petra Street "swiftly and efficiently".

Muhannad Malkawi, spokesperson of King Abdullah I University Hospital, told The Jordan Times that the hospital received the bodies of the six as well as the injured 24, two of whom were admitted to the intensive care unit while the rest were in "stable" condition.

"The deaths included a child, four women and a man," Malkawi told the Jordan News Agency, Petra, noting that the hospital is prepared to deal with these sort of accidents and that it is not true that blood donation was needed. 

Health Minister Mahmoud Sheyyab visited the injured and checked on their conditions.

Initial CDD reports suggested that the accident occurred due to damage in one of the front tyres of the bus, according to a CDD statement, but the PSD issued a statement later blaming the driver for speeding and wrongful overtaking, which led the bus to crash into the median strip and overturned.