MOROCCO: At least 24 people have been killed after heavy rain caused a flood in an illegal underground textile workshop in a private house in Morocco, international news agencies reported.
Rescue workers recovered 24 bodies from the Tangier property and rescued 10 survivors who were taken to hospital, the MAP agency said on Monday, citing local authorities, according to the report.
One government official at the scene said 25 people had died, 17 women and eight men, all aged between 20 and 40, according to a local journalist contacted by AFP news agency.
News footage from the site, broadcast on Moroccan television, showed emergency services carrying corpses out on stretchers under the eyes of clearly traumatised residents, as a stream of ambulances rushed to the scene.
Workers were saved thanks to a local resident who helped them out of the flooded basement with a rope, according to the journalist contacted by AFP, who spoke to witnesses.
Local media outlets indicated at least some of the victims may have been electrocuted as the incoming water interfered with power facilities, but officials had not confirmed this.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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