Morocco factory fire kills 55

Fast-moving blaze also leaves a dozen injured

Firefighters evacuated a victim using a stretcher from a mattress factory in Casablanca, Morocco, yesterday. More than 100 firefighters battled the blaze for about three hours. (CHAFIK/AFP/Getty Images)

CASABLANCA, Morocco - A fire broke out yesterday in a mattress factory in Casablanca, killing 55 people and injuring a dozen others, the official news agency reported.

The morning blaze began on the ground floor of the factory and quickly spread through the five-story building, according to the MAP news agency.

More than 100 firefighters rushed to the factory in an industrial section of Casablanca and battled the blaze for about three hours, as scores of residents looked on.

The Wilaya of Greater Casablanca, the city government, said in a statement that 55 were killed and 12 were injured.

The statement said chemical products in the factory caused the fire to spread rapidly.

But the cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Officials from the prosecutor's office opened an investigation into the fire, MAP said.

The Rosamor Ameublements factory is in the Hay Hassani neighborhood of Morocco.

About 100 of the factory's 150 employees were on site when the fire began about 10 a.m.

Most of the deaths occurred on the building's third floor where women sew, according to Rachida Darif, a 29-year-old worker.

Sections of the building were still smoking yesterday evening, and rescue workers were searching through the ruins for more bodies.