Three firefighters have died while trying to put out a fire in the Kediet Taifour forest in Tetouan in northern Morocco, official media said on Tuesday.
The MAP, citing authorities, said three firefighters died after their car rolled over in the flames, and two people were burned.
She added that since Monday, the efforts of “500 representatives of all relevant authorities and interests, supported by various means and mechanisms of ground and air intervention” have continued to extinguish the fire.
Authorities also said they deployed 3 firefighting aircraft, each of which flew 40 sorties in an attempt to put out the fire, adding that it tried its best to prevent the fire from reaching populated areas.
On Tuesday, the Moroccan prosecutor’s office announced the opening of “an in-depth judicial investigation into the circumstances of this fire and the diagnosis of all those behind it” and said it had arrested 4 people suspected of being involved in the incident.
Fires broke out in various forests in the north and northeast of Morocco last July, coinciding with a heatwave that destroyed more than 10,000 hectares of forest.
