Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Two men died on Friday after drowning in the Maeen hot springs near Madaba, and a third was badly injured, police said.

The three men are brothers who were swimming in the hot springs region in Wadi Maeen between the Dead Sea and Madaba. One of the brothers drowned and a second attempted to rescue him but drowned as well. The third brother was badly injured in his attempt to rescue his brothers.

A security source said that the Civil Defense rescue teams rushed to the site and performed first aid treatment to the injured brother, but the two others had already died as a result of drowning.

It is noted that the two men drowned in the same area where the body of Sgt Ibrahim Jarrah, a tourism policeman, was found last month. Jarrah had been reported missing and reportedly drowned while accompanying Israeli tourists in Maeen earlier last month.

Local residents gathered in the area and expressed dismay at the lack of safety measures and rescue operations in the hot water springs region that witnessed the death of two others in the same location also in April.

The residents called on the Ministry of Tourism to take better safety measures, or only allow tourist groups that have professional divers with them.

Civil Defense Department (CDD) press spokesperson Colonel Fareed al-Sharaa said that CDD rescue teams pulled the bodies of two brothers on Friday from a 3-meter deep hot springs pool in the Zarqaa' Maeen region near the Dead Sea. The third brother suffered from breathing difficulties and is recovering at the Southern Shuna state-run hospital.

CDD divers and rescue teams hiked on foot to the site of the incident, some 5 kilometers from the closest place ambulance vehicles can reach. The rescue operation took nearly 3 hours, Colonel al-Sharaa said.

Al-Sharaa confirmed that the site of Friday's drownings is the same location where two other brothers drowned nearly two weeks ago. It is also reported to be the same site where Sgt Jarrah drowned earlier in April.

CDD warned tourists and citizens from swimming in dangerous water pools, including agricultural pools and hot water springs where safety measures and life guards are not available.

In a separate incident, a 31 year old man died on Thursday when rocks collapsed on him in the Maeen Hot Water Springs destination, police said.