Rabat – A huge fire has broken out in a gas storage facility in the Moroccan city of Mohammedia on Thursday, reports and videos show.
Footage shared online has gone viral, showing huge columns of fire and explosions engulfing some gas storages in the city, near the port where gas and other flammable materials are stored.
Emergency services have been dispatched to the scene, though the fire shows no signs of abating as of the time of this writing.
Several energy companies such as Afriquia, Total, and Shell reportedly use the facility.
The facility’s proximity to other storage sites and other institutions where flammable materials may be contained in large volumes is stoking worries that emergency services may not be able to contain the fire properly.
Witnesses reported hearing explosions as far away as 10 kilometers from the explosions’ site.
Some reporters and witnesses on the site have also reported that families and citizens living near the facility have evacuated the surroundings.
Some have said regular firefighters and emergency vehicles might not be able to effectively contain the fire, and called on national emergency authorities to authorize the use of more advanced containment methods such as firefighting planes.
