EL JADIDA, Morocco, 2 November — Fire ripped through an overcrowded Moroccan prison yesterday, killing at least 49 inmates and injuring 89 people, authorities said. Six of the injured were in intensive care and reported in critical condition, suffering from smoke inhalation, after what was believed to be the worst blaze ever at a Moroccan jail.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd sent a cable of condolences to King Muhammad VI. Similar cables were sent by Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, and Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation.
The cause of the blaze in Sidi Moussa prison, on the northern outskirts of the Atlantic coast city of El Jadida, was not immediately known, a Communication Ministry official said. Initial reports by the official MAP news agency that an electrical fault might have started the fire were not confirmed.
The head of the city’s Mohammed V hospital, Mohamed Riad, said the hospital had received 49 confirmed dead. “All the corpses have been taken out of the jail,” he told Reuters.
Four prisoners were sent for burns treatment to the main hospital in Casablanca, 80 km (50 miles) to the north, he said. One prisoner, who was bandaged around the upper part of his body, told reporters he had no idea how the fire started.
About 2,000 people, including dozens of anguished relatives and many onlookers, gathered outside the jail’s main gate waiting for information from prison authorities. Some women shouted “My son, my son!”.
Mona, a 17-year-old high school student who did not want to give her full name, said her 18-year-old husband had been imprisoned there since last August. “All we are asking for is the names of the people who have been killed,” she said in tears.
Outside Mohammed V hospital, some 700 relatives holding identity cards gathered but access to the building was barred by police who let nobody through. No damage from the fire could be seen from outside the jail because of a high wall. Officials said the blaze erupted in one of the prison’s nine blocks at around 1:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) and engulfed the block next door. It took firefighters nearly two hours to contain it.
All the dead were inmates of the jail. Two prison staff were among the injured, the ministry official said. They were caught by the flames while trying to open cell doors. El Jadida is about 170 km (110 miles) south of the capital Rabat. (R)
