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Eighth Body Found After Morocco Football Match Flood

September 3, 2019

The last body was found some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the village
of Tizret near where an amateur football tournament had been taking
place.

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Morocco authorities said Monday they had found the body of a person
missing after a flood hit a football pitch, bringing to eight the
number of people killed in last week’s tragedy.

The flood took place when a nearby river burst its banks in the
southern region of Taroudant on Wednesday.

A 17-year-old boy and six elderly men were killed and have since been
buried, while rescuers continued the search for an eight victim who
was swept away by the flood, authorities said.

The last body was found some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the village
of Tizret near where an amateur football tournament had been taking
place.

Photographs and videos shared on social media showed muddy waters
carrying away people who had clambered on top of a building flattened
by the flood.

Authorities have opened an investigation and the government has
promised to take several measures to avoid such tragedies in the
future.

Morocco’s national weather service had warned of the risk of stormy
rains on Wednesday afternoon in several provinces.

The heavy downpour followed a dry spell, making the floods more
violent, local media reported.

Floods are common in Morocco. In late July, 15 people died in a
landslide caused by flash floods on a road south of Marrakesh.

In 2014, floods killed around 50 people and caused considerable damage
in the south of the country.

Between 2000 and 2013, a series of 13 major floods killed a total of
263 people in Morocco and caused considerable damage to infrastructure
worth $427 million, according to the World Bank.

A study published in 2015 pointed to multiple failures in
infrastructure maintenance, prevention, warning, and emergency
management, ArabNews reports.