Moroccan rescuers yesterday found the body of a woman trapped under a collapsed building in Casablanca, raising the death toll to three as they searched for more victims, witnesses said.
At least 24 people were injured in the tragedy when a four-storey building in the Sbata district came down on Friday evening, a statement from the Casablanca municipality said earlier.
It said two people were killed in the collapse and that search was ongoing for a missing woman.
Witnesses said a cafe on the ground floor had been teeming with customers and a doctor’s clinic was also full at the time of the tragedy.
A taxi driver who went into the cafe to use the restroom was killed, they said.
Yesterday, the body of a 13-year-old girl was retrieved from the rubble and hours later rescuers pulled out the body of the woman.
Witnesses said that authorities brought in more specialised equipment for the search operation.
Nine of the injured have now been discharged from hospital but the remainder were still receiving care, the municipality statement carried by the official MAP news agency said.
It said the injured were in a stable condition.
Authorities yesterday arrested the building’s owner for questioning, it added.
The royal court said King Mohamed VI had expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and announced that he would pay for their funerals and for the hospital treatment of the injured.
Footage from the scene showed the building fully collapsed with what appears to be its concrete roof slanted over the rubble and at least one crushed car.
Firemen and rescue workers worked through the night, often having to drill through layers of concrete to be able to free trapped victims.
Hundreds of people thronged around the site, with some clambering on top of the rubble to try to help rescuers.
Witnesses said one woman was pulled alive from the rubble but her leg had been severed.
A local news website said the building had initially had just one floor but that the owner had obtained a permit allowing him to add another three.
The new floors were completed only six months ago, reports said.