Mysterious Blue Glow Seen in Sky over Morocco Moments Before Deadly Quake

Mysterious blue flashes were seen in the sky above a Moroccan city as a deadly earthquake, that has so far claimed thousands of lives in the country, struck.

The 6.8-magnitude quake struck southwest of Marrakesh in the Atlas Mountains around 11 p.m. local time on Friday. The tremors could be felt as far away as Portugal and Algeria.

A quake of this size has not occurred in the country and surrounding areas in more than 120 years, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The affected region in western Morocco is not prone to frequent earthquakes.

The latest figures from state media indicate that more than 2,600 people have been killed, while 2,500 individuals have been injured as of Monday. Authorities warn though that the death toll is still expected to rise.

Much of the destruction has occurred in hard-to-reach mountain areas, which has hampered rescue efforts.

The historic center of Marrakesh, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular tourist destination, has also reportedly suffered damage.

A video posted and shared on social media that was reportedly captured by a surveillance camera in the city of Agadir shows some unusual blue flashes in the night sky above the city just as the earthquake strikes.

Among those who posted the clip to social media was Saudi-based influencer Eyad Alhamoud. He said an individual in Agadir, which lies in the affected area, sent him the clip, which was captured by a surveillance camera on the person’s house.

“Mysterious blue flashes of light appeared on the horizon and no one knew what they were,” Alhamoud said in the post on X, formerly Twitter. “Does anyone have an explanation?”

This is not the first time that mysterious lights associated with earthquakes have reportedly been seen in the sky.

Phenomena such as sheet lightning, balls of light, streamers, and steady glows, reported in association with earthquakes are referred to as “earthquake lights” (EQL), according to the USGS.

Luminous aerial phenomena, while relatively rare, have been seen during recent earthquakes in Mexico and Turkey-Syria.

Earthquake lights have long puzzled experts and there is no consensus as to what their causes are. Some have proposed geophysical explanations for such phenomena while others question such claims.

“Geophysicists differ on the extent to which they think that individual reports of unusual lighting near the time and epicenter of an earthquake actually represent EQL,” the USGS says on its website.

“Some doubt that any of the reports constitute solid evidence for EQL, whereas others think that at least some reports plausibly correspond to EQL.”

In the case of the latest video from Morocco, one X account that fact-checks UFO sightings and “sky anomalies” in an attempt to debunk hoaxes, conspiracies and fake news has proposed a prosaic explanation.

“Here’s another misinformation about alleged lights before earthquake in Morocco,” the ufoofinterest.org account said in a post responding to someone sharing the video captured in Agadir.

“That blue flash is caused by transformer explosion as reported many times during these events.”

The account then shared video clips of other earthquakes showing exploding transformers.

Newsweek has contacted the USGS for comment via email.