At least 20 people, mainly schoolchildren and teachers on a school outing, were killed in a flash flood near Jordan's Dead Sea on Thursday in one of the worst disasters the kingdom has known in years, according to rescuers and hospital workers.
A major operation by police helicopters and hundreds of army troops rescued 34 people, some of them in serious condition, police chief Brig. Gen. Farid al Sharaa told state television.
Many of those killed were children under 14. Several families picnicking in the popular destination were also among the dead and injured, rescuers said.
Hundreds of anxious relatives arrived at Shounah hospital, a few miles from the resort area, where they wept and begged for details about missing children, a witness said.
The flooding occurred after heavy rainfall, the first of the fall season.
Prime Minister Omar Razzaz said it appeared the school had flouted an Education Ministry directive warning against trips to the area due to bad weather. He pledged to launch an investigation and prosecute those responsible.
Razzaz said divers and civil defense search teams would continue to conduct search operations.
The father of one of the rescued children said the group had been in a narrow stream when a sudden torrential rainstorm flooded the area.
"The children tried to escape the flood by going to the bus but its doors were closed," Abu Yousef told reporters.
"The teachers tried to save the children but the flood's intensity made it impossible."
He said the children were swept to the shores of the Dead Sea, the lowest point on Earth.
King Abdullah canceled a trip to Bahrain to oversee the rescue operations, state media said.
Neighboring Israel sent search-and-rescue helicopters to assist at Amman's request, the IDF said in a statement. It said the team was operating on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea.
In late April, a flash flood killed 10 Israeli high school seniors who were on a hike in the southern Dead Sea area.
Civil defense spokesman Capt. Iyad al Omar told Reuters the number of casualties was expected to rise. On Thursday night, rescue workers with flashlights were searching the cliffs near the Dead Sea shore where bodies had been found.
Deadly flash floods have struck Jordan in the past. In 1963, 23 French tourists were swept away by flash floods when they were trapped in the ancient city of Petra.
