“A third body was pulled from the rubble on Tuesday evening, bringing the toll to three dead and 14 injured,” a security source told AFP. The previous report, given by the spokesman for the public security directorate, Amer Al-Sartawi, reported “two dead and 14 injured in the collapse Tuesday of a residential building in Jabal Al-Weibdeh, in the center of Amman”.
“Rescue teams are continuing the search on site,” he said in statements to the official Al-Mamlaka television channel. The collapse would be due in particular to the fact that the building is “old and dilapidated”, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Local Administration, Taoufik Krichane on the same channel, adding that the authorities “were inspecting the state neighboring buildings.
One of the oldest neighborhoods in Amman
Accompanied by several ministers, the head of government, Bicher al-Khasawneh, went to the scene of the accident in Jabal al-Weibdeh, one of the oldest bohemian districts of Amman, popular especially among expatriates and known for its vibrant cultural life. “The Prime Minister has instructed the mayor of the capital to investigate the causes” of the tragedy, government spokesman Faïsal Chboul told reporters.
A judicial source told AFP that “the prosecution had opened an investigation into the collapse of the building”.