AMMAN — Some
experts contacted by
Jordan News contended that the chlorine gas that
leaked in the port of Aqaba would not affect the environment and is unlikely to
spread through the air to neighboring governorates.
اضافة اعلان
They said that the
weight of the gas impedes it from reaching high levels, yet called on the
concerned authorities to come up with emergency plans and follow safety
guidelines to prevent similar leakages in the future.
Chairman of
EDAMA’s Board of Directors Dureid Mahasneh told
Jordan News that “the
gas has vanished into the air, which means that it will not affect any more
citizens in the province”.
According to chemical
engineering Professor Mohammad Ma’touk, “chlorine gas is heavier than air,
which means that it is unable to reach the upper layers of the atmosphere, and
therefore it remained near the surface of the earth, which is the reason those
who were close to the leakage suffocated”.
President of the
Red Sea Ecological Agency Nihaya Al-Qassem was skeptical about the possible
damage to the environment.
“Any foreign
substance in the environmental causes pollution, so what happens when this
substance is toxic,” she asked, adding that “a small percentage of the gas will
remain suspended in the atmosphere, but will not spread to other areas except
in the event of strong winds and rain, and this is unlikely to happen in the
summer”.
A former minister
who spoke on condition of anonymity, was less optimistic about the effects of
the gas on the marine life.
“The greatest
damage is to the coral in the Red Sea; it is expected that the gas leaking into
the water will invade it in high concentration, which means some coral will be
killed, especially since chlorine gas is poisonous,” he said.
At the same time,
“the interaction of chlorine with some substances, such as algae residues, is
likely to cause the occurrence of carcinogenic substances that accumulate
inside fish and are transferred to humans if they eat this fish”, he said.
Marine expert Ehab
Eid said the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) should examine the
waters of the Gulf of Aqaba on a radius of about 500m, to ensure that there is
no damage to the rich marine life in the Gulf of Aqaba, which has some “509
types of fish and about 50 percent of the coral along the Red Sea”.
He stressed that
ASEZA imposes a zero-discharge policy, preventing any tourist or economic
facility from pumping sewage in the sea, “which means that the authority works
periodically to contribute to preserving marine life in Aqaba”.
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