Old Building Collapsed Due to Heavy Rain in Fez, Killing Five

Fez – Five people were crushed to death on Saturday evening in Fez due to the collapse of a building in the old medina. The building reportedly collapsed as a result of the heavy rain the city has been experiencing.

According to local outlet Le360, it all started around 6 p.m., on February 10, when part of the roof of an old three-story building came off.

The collapsed three-story building is located in Zqaq Rommane neighborhood near Bab Guisa Square, not far from the center of the ancient city.

Arriving on site, emergency services first retrieved two bodies from under the rubble before digging up three others, bringing the final death toll to five; three men and two women.

According to local testimonies, the collapsed building came as a shock, as it was not classified as threatening ruin or dangerous for residents and the neighborhood.

According to Hespress, the killed under the rubble were all a full family of five who were residents of the building.

Hespress sources attributed the cause of the collapse to the heavy rain showers that the city of Fez witnessed on Friday and Saturday, highlighting that there were cracks on all three floors of the old building before its collapse.

The same source added that all residents were given notice to evacuate the building, but only residents of two of the floors followed the orders. The remaining family chose to stay in their apartment despite the imminent dangers, and were ultimately crushed when the building fell.

Morocco’s meteorologist office announced last Wednesday in a special bulletin that strong winds reaching speeds between 75 to 120 kilometers per hour with heavy snowfalls were due to hit a number of cities throughout the country, including Fez.

The collapse mobilized local authorities within the Fez-Meknes region and Fez-Medina province, as well as Civil Protection Services, who recovered the bodies of the victims successively from under the rubble. National Security authorities blocked off all the entrances leading to the site.

Although the weather was reported to be the cause of the collapse, Moroccan authorities have opened an investigation into the event to uncover its circumstances in full.

According to local news outlets, the bodies of the dead were transferred to the Regional Hospital of Fez.

This is not the first time an old building has collapsed, particularly in the old medina of Fez. One of the most recent incidents also took place in the old medina, in August of 2020. However, no injuries or deaths were reported.

In February 2022, the Ministry of National Territory Planning Housing and City Policy announced the necessity of developing a proactive, participatory and renewable intervention strategy by 2030, in order to confront the problems associated with buildings threatened with collapse.