He added that the efforts of “500 members of all relevant authorities and interests, supported by various means and mechanisms of ground and air intervention, continue” since Monday to extinguish the fire.Authorities also said they had commissioned 3 specialized fire extinguishing aircraft, each of which made 40 sorties in an attempt to extinguish the fire, adding that it was struggling to prevent the fire from reaching populated areas.
Tuesday, the Prosecutor’s Office in Morocco announced the opening of “a thorough judicial investigation into the circumstances of the outbreak of this fire and the diagnosis of all those behind it” and claimed to have arrested 4 people suspected of involvement in the incident.
Fires broke out last July in various forests in the north and north-east of Morocco, in coinciding with a strong heat wave, which caused the destruction of over 10,000 hectares of forest.