Seven people died and dozens were injured when their homes collapsed in a thunderstorm in the Mauritanian Sahara, national media reported Sunday.
“Houses collapsed on their residents in the violent storm” killing two people Friday in the town of Boutilimitt, 150 kilometers (90 miles) east of the west African nation’s capital Nouakchott, the AMI agency said citing local officials.
A national radio station later cited local authorities saying that five more people were killed Friday at Denouache, 60 kilometers east of Boutilimitt, when their houses collapsed on them under violent winds.
In Boutilimitt, a child and an elderly woman died and some of the injured were in serious condition, AMI said. An unspecified number of families lost their homes.
Authorities were distributing food, tents and blankets to people in the areas ravaged by the storm, and officials were ordered to report on the losses and damage in the areas, the radio station reported.
