Two buildings collapse in Fez, several killed
Rabat: At least 22 people were killed and 16 injured when two adjacent buildings collapsed overnight in Fez, one of Morocco’s oldest cities, the prosecutor said.
The Fez prosecutor said in a statement that one of the buildings was empty, while the second hosted the Aqiqah ceremony, a traditional Muslim celebration of the birth of a child.
Buildings turned into piles of rubble.Credit: access point
The prosecutor said that the death toll was preliminary and an investigation had been launched.
In the statement made by local authorities, it was stated that eight families lived in the building where the celebration was held. Both buildings were four stories high.
A survivor who lost his wife and three children told local Medi1 TV in the early hours that rescue teams were able to recover one body but he was still waiting for the others.
SNRT News footage shows rescue workers and residents digging through the rubble.
Rescue teams and residents are searching for survivors among the rubble of two collapsed buildings.Credit: access point
“My son, who lives upstairs, told me that the building was going to collapse. When we went out, we saw that the building had collapsed,” an elderly woman wrapped in a blanket told SNRT News without giving her name.
State-owned broadcaster SNRT News reported that witnesses at the scene said buildings in the Al-Mustaqbal neighborhood, a densely populated area in the west of the city, had been showing signs of cracking for some time.
