Three firefighters were killed Monday night in a forest in northern Morocco as they battled the flames when their vehicle fell into a ravine. Two other firefighters were inside and were seriously injured.
Four men suspected of having started the fire were arrested and handed over to the judicial police before being brought to justice, said the authorities of the province of M’diq-Fnideq, near the port of Tangier.
10,000 hectares burned
The fire has so far caused the destruction of around 90 hectares of forest cover, according to initial estimates. The fire services, including Canadair water bombers, were still mobilized on Tuesday to try to control the disaster and prevent it from spreading to inhabited areas.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, more than 10,000 hectares have been affected by forest fires in several northern regions of Morocco since the beginning of the summer. Like the south of Western Europe, Morocco was hit by scorching temperatures, in a context of extraordinary drought and water stress.