Underground gas leak burns sheep, scaring Jordanians

Amman: An underground methane leak in a remote area of northern Jordan burst into flame and set fire to a flock of sheep, sending fears of volcanic eruptions racing through the desert kingdom.

A shepherd told the local press he saw his flock "burn and completely disappear" after he let them wander into the rocky depression to search for grass.
 

The incident set off a frenzy of speculation in the newspapers over the weekend that Jordan was now host to volcanoes or that a massive earthquake was imminent.

Government experts dispatched to the burned region in Um Jaozeh on the outskirts of the city of Salt revealed that a nearby waste treatment plant had saturated the soil with methane gas and organic materials.