Four Belgians killed in Jordan coach crash

Four Belgian tourists were killed in a coach accident in Jordan on Saturday, the Belgian foreign office and local police said. The Belgian foreign office said that three women and a man, all Belgians, had been killed in the accident and six people seriously injured, while the fate of eight others was not immediately known. Jordanian police had said 15 others were injured, giving their nationalities as Belgian and French. “My thoughts are with the victims of this bus accident in Jordan and their families,” Belgian prime minister Elio Di Rupo said via Twitter. Jordanian police spokesman Mohamad Khatib said the survivors were taken to hospital following the collision between the coach and a car. A crisis centre was set up along with a phone line for people worried about friends or relatives. The accident happened at about 18.00 local time in the western city of Karak (pictured), as the coach returned from the historic city of Petra to the capital, Amman, 200km to the north, a spokesman for Thomas Cook Belgium told news agency AFP. According to first reports, the coach was hit by a vehicle that was in the wrong lane and the coach driver didn’t appear to be at fault. The driver and local guide were also injured, the spokesman said. A special flight left on Sunday morning to fly the holidaymakers home. Belgian foreign minister Didier Reynders said the country’s embassy in Amman, in collaboration with the Jordanian authorities, were offering “all necessary support”.