Investigations under way into climbing accident

AMMAN — Investigations are under way to find out how three French tourists fell to their deaths on Saturday while mountain climbing in Wadi Rum, according to the French embassy.

“We are still trying to know more details because the incident happened only yesterday,” a source at the French embassy told The Jordan Times on Sunday.

A 32-year-old man and two women, aged 35 and 40, plunged 200 metres while climbing a 1,500-metre high mountain in the Um Rumaileh area in Wadi Rum, some 300 kilometres southwest of the capital.

“The tourists arrived from France on Thursday as part of a group,” the source said, underscoring that the three tourists were accompanied by a French guide during the climbing expedition, contrary to earlier reports that said the tourists arrived in Jordan individually and went on the climbing expedition without a guide.

The incident took place around 11:30am on Saturday, a Civil Defence Department officer who participated in the rescue mission said, noting that the three tourists were found on a cliff.

The team of paramedics faced a hard time reaching the site of the accident because of the mountainous terrain, the officer told The Jordan Times on Saturday, adding that the three tourists were transported on stretchers for 300 metres before reaching the ambulance.

“As an embassy, we have fully mobilised and took all the normal measures in cooperation with the Jordanian authorities, who were very helpful. We have informed the families of the tourists and we are helping the rest of the group, who are in shock,” the source said.

Asked whether the bodies of the three tourists have been transported to France and whether the tourists belonged to the same family, the embassy official declined to comment “to protect the privacy of the families of the tourists”.

The CDD transported the bodies of the victims to the Wadi Rum Health Centre for a forensic examination and then transferred them to Prince Hashem Military Hospital in Aqaba, located 58 kilometres south of Wadi Rum. They were flown to Amman late Saturday.