Mueren 25 personas en una fábrica clandestina de Tánger a causa de las inundaciones

At least 25 people have lost their lives in a clandestine factory in Tangiers (northern Morocco). According to official sources, the victims were electrocuted after a short circuit caused by the torrential rains that are lashing the area. The factory was illegal and located in the underground area of a residential building in the south of the Moroccan city, in the Al-Mars neighbourhood, near the road to Rabat. 

The official communiqué issued by the local authorities states that water leaks were responsible for a short circuit that killed at least 25 people, most of them women. Another 10 workers had to be admitted to the Regional Hospital of Tangier, although it is not ruled out that there are still people trapped inside to be rescued. This is why the rescue operation is continuing without a break on the part of the Moroccan fire brigade. 

As a result of this fatal accident, the existence of a clandestine factory with 40 workers in its service has been revealed. The authorities have already announced the opening of an investigation to find out all the details of this illegal business and to clarify the facts surrounding the accident caused by the short circuit.  

Two hypotheses are being considered in the investigation. The first is that those affected were electrocuted by a water line that entered the workshop, located in the basement of a residential neighbourhood: it seems that the waterspout created a short-circuit that killed the workers. The other hypothesis, while investigations continue, is that it is death by drowning, since the heavy rains that have fallen throughout the northern region of Morocco have caused flooding in all the city's slums in the last 24 hours, according to what local residents told the Efe news agency and could be seen in videos and images posted on social networks.

It seems that the workshop actually had two underground levels, and it is on the lower level that the tragedy has been greatest.

The rains in Tangier caused severe flooding in the early hours of 7-8 February, damaging businesses and homes at street level, and flooding squares and avenues throughout the region.