Friday, September 09, 2011

La Villa Cafe - Accident - Update



According to the latest reports five people are dead and fifteen remain in hospital after a gas cylinder explosion in a well known cafe in downtown Fez. Two Australian women had a lucky escape this morning when they left La Villa Cafe in the Ville Nouvelle minutes before the massive explosion rocked the cafe.


Others were not so lucky. Twenty-five people were admitted to University Hospital (CHU) following the accidental explosion of a butane gas cylinder, in the well known cafe-bakery in downtown Fez. Among the injured were two pregnant women, eight and nine months respectively, who were poisoned by carbon monoxide, according to a hospital source. Three other people were seriously injured. One woman suffering serious burns was admitted to intensive care. Some victims were released after receiving treatment.. This accident, which caused extensive damage, was followed by a fire quickly controlled by the fire authorities. According to preliminary investigations, a gas leak is the cause of the explosion..

A local resident said, " The explosion at La Villa was five minutes away from the Supermarket Acima. (On Hassan II.)...It's a disaster. It burned like hell....Police everywhere and they don’t won’t us get any closer...I heard that some people died, mostly the staff who worked underground. The oven workers; the pastry makers.; the girls in charge of cleaning. I met a girl there who works in the bakery and she was crying. I barely could understand what she was saying because she was sobbing and she told me that it was the gas, no bomb involved."

The resident asked how the woman knew and she replied that she had seen what the events.
"She said, 'For God's sake, I was there and I saw them changing the gas bottles. .I don’t know what happened to them, but I am sure most of them are gone.”


3 comments:

Morocco Time said...

Oh no. Not again.

Morocco Time said...

In my dismay I didn't read the story completely - didn't see that it was accidental. Still a terrible event.

The View from Fez said...

Your reaction is exactly what we experienced. Absolute dismay and confusion.