The death toll from a fire at a MOroccan prison has risen to 50 after another prisoner died from his injuries, the MAP news agency reported.
The fire which raged through a prison in El Jadida, south of the Moroccan capital Rabat yesterday has revived a debate about conditions in the north African kingdom's notoriously overcrowded jails.
Another 40 prisoners remain in hospital, while a similar number of the less badly injured were treated and discharged.
The cause of the blaze was still unknown overnight. The government has opened an inquiry and has said it will publish the results as soon as possible.
The prison population in Morocco has nearly doubled in the past 10 years, swelling from some 31,230 detainees in 1991 to more than 57,300 last year, Mr Hassan Hamina, a prison administrator, said last month.
AFP