King orders new ‘impartial’ panel to probe Dead Sea incident

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Thursday directed the Prime Minister Omar Razzaz to set up an “impartial committee to find out the truth about the incident of the Dead Sea's flashfloods, a Royal Court statement said.

The tasks of the committee include “objectively and neutrally establishing the truth, precisely identifying the deficiencies and the responsible parties and building on the lessons learned from the incident, in coordination with the committees formed in this regard in order to come up with unified recommendations”, according to the statement.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Azmi Mahafzah and Tourism Minister Lina Annab tendered their resignations to Prime Minister Omar Razzaz over the loss of life in the Dead Sea incident a week ago, when flashfloods resulted in the death of 21 people, mostly school children who were on a trip to the area.

The new committee was formed under the chairmanship of Mohammad Raqqad, along with the membership of MP Abdul Monem Al Odat, President of the Jordanian Engineers Association Ahmad Zu'bi, President of the Jordanian Geologists Association Sakhr Nsoor, Ret. Maj. Gen. Abdul Jalil Maaytah, Ret. Maj. Gen. Judge Muhannad Hijazi and Momen Hadidi, in addition to Nael Amoush, Munther Azzeh and Zeyad Tahrawi as representatives of the victims' families. Muath Zu'bi was appointed the committee's rapporteur, the statement noted.

The committee will prepare a comprehensive report including its findings of the necessary recommendations, in order to be submitted to His Majesty as soon as possible.

Currently there are two panels probing the Dead Sea disaster, when 21 people, mostly from Victoria College School’s students and teachers, died and 35 were injured as they were swept away by flashfloods in the hot springs area as the country witnessed heavy quick rain.

The first comprises Cabinet members, and is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Rajai Muasher and the second was formed by the Lower House, chaired by Odat. 

Mahafzah resigned after Annab announced her resignation from the Cabinet on her Twitter account. The Jordan News Agency, Petra, confirmed that the premier has received both resignation letters. 

During a meeting of the Lower House’s Education Committee early in the week to listen to the ministers of interior, education, tourism, public works and water, on their ministries’ procedures in dealing with the incident’s aftermath, several angry deputies requested that the education and tourism ministers step down.

In a related development on Thursday, Odat said that the preliminary results of the House panel’s probe point to “negligence and poor performance”  by some ministries concerned with the issue.

He noted that that the two departing ministers announced their resignations while the investigation was in process at the Lower House, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The committee held a hearing, during which the ministers of interior, education, health, tourism, water, and public works, were due to testify.