YOUNG children were among at least 22 people who died after two buildings collapsed in one of Morocco’s most popular tourist cities.
Disaster struck in Fez – the North African kingdom’s cultural capital and one of the oldest cities in the world – late on Tuesday night.
Two adjacent four-storey buildings collapsed in the terrifying incident overnight, according to Fez local authorities.
The buildings are understood to have been inhabited by eight families in the Al-Mustaqbal neighbourhood, a densely populated area in the west of the city.
Loud cracks were heard at around 10pm, before the shocking collapse.
Buildings this area can date back to hundreds of years ago.
One male survivor told local TV: “I lost my wife and three children.”
He said rescuers were able to recover one body but he was still waiting on the others.
An older woman wrapped in a blanked said: “My son who lives upstairs told me the building is coming down. When we went out, we saw the building collapsing.”
Cops and civil protection units were reportedly unable to get to all of the families living in the buildings.
“Some nineteen people have perished in the rubble, with around twenty badly injured,” said an emergency services spokesman.
He added: “Four children are among the dead. Diggers and other machinery are being used in the search for survivors. The injured are being taken to the Fez university hospital.”
An investigation was meanwhile launched to try and work out what caused the collapse.
Eyewitnesses of the horror incident allegedly told local media the buildings at the scene have been showing signs of cracking for some time.
The Interior Ministry has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Five people died in a similar collapse in Fez in February 2024, and six perished during building disasters in 2016.
In 2023, the Moroccan government identified more than 12,000 buildings around the southern city of Marrakesh as being vulnerable to collapse.
The city, plagued by building collapses, was hit by a wave of protests against the government two months ago over the deteriorating living conditions and poor public services.
These youth-led protests are understood to be inspired by similar revolts in Nepal, Madagascar and Peru but they later devolved into riots in rural towns and remote cities.
Three people were shot dead by cops as they tried to storm a security headquarters, and over 400 were arrested, before the violence eased.
Adib Ben Ibrahim, housing secretary of state, announced in January that approximately 38,800 buildings across Morocco have been classified as at risk of collapse.
This devastating collapse is one of the worst in Morocco since the fall of a minaret in the historic northern city of Meknes, which killed 41 people in 2010.
Back in 2023 Morocco was ravaged by its deadliest earthquake for 60 years, almost 3000 people died in the disaster around Marrakesh and the Atlas Mountains.
Damage was widespread, historic landmarks were destroyed, and a humanitarian emergency was announced.
Morocco is a hugely popular destination for British holidaymakers, with Fez’s medina, rich history and luxury hotels being are a magnet for tourists.
Despite their record-breaking tourism growth there is widespread poverty within the population which frequently accuses their monarch, King Mohammed VI, of being out of touch.
Fez is set to be one of the cities to host the World Cup and this month’s African Cup of Nations football tournament.