Morocco prison blaze kills 49

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A fire at a prison in Morocco has killed at least 49 inmates.

The fire broke out early on Friday at the Sidi Moussa jail in the coastal city of El Jadida, 180km (110 miles) south of the capital, Rabat.

At least 89 people have been injured, two of them prison staff, in what is the country's worst ever prison fire.

Abderrahim Jamai, president of the human rights group Moroccan Prison Observatory, said the fire was caused by negligence on the part of the prison authorities, further aggravated by the appalling state of Morocco's jails.

Smoke inhalation

Most of the injured prisoners were affected by smoke inhalation and are being treated in a local hospital.

Six of them are said to be in a critical condition.

The fire broke out in one prison building at around 0040 GMT and quickly spread to three others.

It took firefighters nearly four hours to contain the blaze, a Communication Ministry official said.

Morocco's outgoing Prime Minister Abderrahmane el Youssoufi and his successor Driss Jettou visited the site of the disaster together with Justice Minister Omar Azziman.

Old buildings

Initial reports speculated that an electrical fault was to blame for the fire, but officials later said the cause was unclear.

BBC correspondent Stephanie Irvine says fires caused by electrical faults are common in Morocco where many public buildings have antiquated wiring.

It was Morocco's worst prison fire

In August two prisoners were killed and 20 injured in a fire in the prison of Kanicha, north of Rabat, which was caused by an electrical fault.

Five years ago 28 prisoners were killed in a Casablanca prison fire.

Media reports said inmates had been using electric stoves with unsafe wiring, and candles after the lights were put out at night.

Overcrowding

Casualties may have been made worse by the serious overcrowding in Moroccan prisons.

A report last year by the local prison observatory body said the Moroccan jails belonged to another age.

The number of prisoners has almost doubled over the last 10 years and the old buildings are unable to accommodate this increase.

Morocco's 20 prisons house over 57,000 inmates, although they were built to hold around 40,000.

Sidi Moussa prison was built to hold 1,000 inmates, but currently houses over 1,300.

The observatory has also condemned the corruption, sexual abuse and the lack of hygiene in Morocco's jails.