فاس نيوز ميديا جريدة الكترونية جهوية تعنى بشؤون و أخبار جهة فاس مكناس – متجددة على مدار الساعة
Ismail Jai Al-Mansouri, president of the Zouaga District Council in Fez, expressed deep sorrow over the tragic incident that claimed the lives of 22 people following the collapse of two adjacent buildings in the Al-Massira neighborhood in the Bensouda area on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. He described the incident as “God’s fate,” but said it was a “major shock” for both residents and officials alike.
In a statement to Hespress, the district chief explained that the two buildings were constructed about 20 years ago as part of a state-led relocation operation carried out in 2006, and that their owners benefited from legal land plots. The building permits they obtained from the competent authorities at that time met the standards in place then. However, he did not exclude the possibility that some residents may have made unauthorized additions or modifications to the buildings later on.
Jai Al-Mansouri denied that the district services had received any repair requests or prior complaints from the residents of the two buildings, affirming that local authorities were unaware of any imminent danger.
Regarding the survivors of the disaster, the district head said that the Fez-Meknes regional governorate is directly supervising their case in coordination with local authorities. Some survivors were accommodated in hotels, and neighboring houses were evacuated as a precaution amid fears of further collapses.
Meanwhile, the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Fez First Instance Court announced the opening of a judicial investigation under its direct supervision, assigning the judicial police to conduct an in-depth inquiry to determine the true causes and exact circumstances of the collapse.
The prosecutor’s statement noted that one of the buildings was unoccupied, while the other hosted an Aqiqah ceremony, resulting in 22 deaths (including children and women) and injuring 16 others with varying degrees of severity. All the injured were transferred to the University Hospital Center of Fez.
Local authorities, security forces, and civil protection services rushed to the scene immediately after the incident, securing the area and continuing search operations for potential survivors under the rubble, taking all necessary precautionary measures to protect neighboring residents.
