Jordan- Gas cylinders explode, shake Sports City area 

(MENAFN - Jordan Times) Four people were injured in a gas cylinder explosion near the Sports City on Monday.

Several buildings and cars in the adjacent area were also damaged when a gas cylinder on board a distribution truck caught fire and quickly engulfed the entire vehicle.

The Civil Defence Department (CDD) said the injured, who suffered gas inhalation, were in stable condition.

The vehicle was carrying around 50 cooking gas cylinders when it caught fire and could not be extinguished, according to eyewitnesses, who said the cylinders were flying like bombs.

Abdul Fattah, the owner of a mobile phone shop, told The Jordan Times that the small truck carrying gas cylinders stopped in front of his store when the driver noticed that one of the cylinders was on fire.

"The driver jumped out of the car to look for a fire extinguisher but by that time, the fire had engulfed the rest of the cylinders," he said, adding that shopkeepers in the area closed their businesses and ran for their lives.

"Seconds later, we heard a loud explosion that shook the entire area," said Abdul Fattah, whose shop was completely destroyed.

Maj. Ahmad Khashashneh from the Public Security Department (PSD), who was at the scene, said the explosion caused severe damage to three surrounding buildings.

The department has yet to calculate the cost of the damage.

Dozens of PSD and CDD personnel, alerted by shopkeepers, took minutes to arrive at the scene. They rushed to evacuate residents and shopkeepers to safe places.

A worker at a vegetable store a few hundred metres away from the site of the accident, said the explosion shook the walls of his shop.

Hundreds of onlookers gathered, some hoping to be of help. Everybody expressed relief at the fact that no one was killed.