Rabat – Shocking footage of a girl unsuccessfully trying to escape a burning apartment building in Sidi Alal Bahraoui, a town 40 kilometers from Rabat, has been circulating on the internet since Sunday, August 5.
The disturbing video shows the young girl, named Hiba, trying desperately to escape the building by the window, but being blocked by grills. Neighbors who had gathered down below, waiting for firefighters to arrive, could only look on helplessly.
One of the local residents in the district condemned the delay in intervention, saying that people had been calling the firefighters for 23 minutes. “They hang up the phone. There is proof, go check the call center there. We did our best,” he told the press.
“Nobody killed her, the civil protection killed her,” he added with tears in his eyes.
He said that local residents even drove to the civil protection center. “They found the [firefighters] playing cards.”
Another local resident said that several people tried to break down the door of the apartment, but were sadly unable to open it.
By the time the civil protection services finally arrived, the girl had caught fire.
The eyewitnesses said that civil protection bears all responsibility for the death of Hiba.
“People went to their center, and some of the members of civil protection said that they still had to put on their suits in order to rescue the girl,” one citizen said.
Firefighters did eventually arrived to rescue Hiba, but she died from the serious injuries she sustained in the fire shortly after arriving at Tifelt Hospital, according to Al Yaoum 24.
Internet users who saw the video are condemning the firefighting services for not arriving at the scene quickly enough.
Local authorities have not yet indicated what caused the apartment building in the Al-Nasr neighborhood to catch fire.
Read also: Fire Breaks Out at Migrant Camp Near Casablanca Bus Station
