At least 24 people have died in the flooding of a sweatshop in the basement of a private home in Tangier, Morocco.

The country has experienced heavy rains in recent weeks after a long period of drought.

In January, several dilapidated houses in Casablanca collapsed due to bad weather. 

Heavy rains on Monday caused the flooding of a clandestine textile workshop installed in the basement of a private house in Tangier, Morocco, killing at least 24 people, according to an initial report published by the official MAP agency citing local authorities.

Helpers deployed on the ground recovered 24 bodies, rescued ten survivors who were taken to hospital and are continuing the search, according to the same source.

Some local media report an electrocution problem but this information has not been confirmed by the authorities.

Morocco has experienced heavy rains in recent weeks after a long period of drought.

At the beginning of January, bad weather had led to collapses of dilapidated houses in Casablanca, the economic capital of the country, killing at least four people and injuring several, according to local media.

Regular deadly floods in Morocco 

Often linked, in the countryside, to a phenomenon of sudden flooding of dry rivers, and in the city, to a deficit in the drainage system, floods regularly claim victims in Morocco.

This is "the first risk in terms of people killed at the national level", according to a report on climate risks published in 2016 by the Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (Ires).

In September 2019, the flooding of a wadi (river) carried away 24 passengers of a bus in the Errachidia region (south-east).

A few days earlier, the sudden rise in water on a football field had killed seven people in the region of Tizert (southwest).

In 2014, floods linked to torrential rains killed around 50 people and caused considerable damage in the south.