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In the second fatal collapse in Morocco this year, two residential buildings in the city of Fes gave way, killing 19 people, authorities said on Wednesday.

The four-storey buildings housed eight families, said Morocco’s state news agency, MAP, adding that 16 have been injured in the incident and are receiving treatment at a hospital nearby.

“Sixteen other people were wounded, with varying degrees of gravity,” the agency reported, adding that search operations were still ongoing to “save other people who may be buried under the rubble”.

Authorities are unclear about what caused the collapse in the Al-Moustakbal neighbourhood or how many more might be under the rubble, although the neighbourhood has been evacuated and search and rescue operations were ongoing.

 

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The tragedy assumes greater significance in the light of Fes being one of the hosts of this month’s Africa Cup of Nations and the 2030 FIFA World Cup. The second-largest city of Morocco, it is also best known for walling in medieval souks and old-world tanneries, which serve as popular attraction spots for tourists.

However, beyond the sight of adventure-seeking tourists is one of the country’s poorest urban centres, where aging infrastructure is a common cause of building collapses.

In May this year, a building came down, killing 10 people and injuring seven. It had already been slated for evacuation, according to Moroccan outlet Le360. Earlier in February of last year, five people died in the collapse of a house in Fes’s old city.

In 2016, there were two deadly building collapses within the span of a week.

No heed is paid to enforcement of building codes in the country, especially in ancient cities where aging multifamily homes are common. In fact, gaps in basic services were a focal point of Gen-Z protests that swept the country earlier this year, with demonstrators criticising the government for investing in new stadiums instead of addressing inequality in health care, education and other public services.