Another 17 people were seriously injured in the fire - the city's deadliest - which apparently broke out on the ground floor of the factory in the Lissasfa industrial district in south-west Casablanca.

'I was working on the first floor as an upholsterer. The smoke came up from the ground floor where the foam rubber, wood and glue are stored,' Mr Omar Elaaz, 20, told AFP in a city hospital.

'I used a gas bottle to break the wire mesh that protects every window,' he said.

Witnesses said the Rosamor Furniture plant looked like a deadly prison, especially for female workers trapped inside who did not dare jump from the upper storeys.

'I jumped from the third floor with four other colleagues while the women perished in the inferno,' said 31-year-old upholsterer Hakim Hakki from his hospital bed.

Thirty five women were among the dead, a forensic police officer told AFP, adding 'we'll need DNA tests to identify many charred bodies'.

About 100 people were working at the plant on Saturday when the fire broke out, and those who died were either asphyxiated or burned, according to a firefighter.

'The plant's owner, Adil Moufarreh, and his son Abdelali Moufarreh, who was the manager, have been taken into custody,' police said.

Both survivors and relatives of the victims denounced the working conditions and the lack of safety measures in the factory.

'The owner was more worried about protecting his mattresses and his material than the lives of his workers,' sobbed Mrs Fawza Badr, 70, who lost her 20-year-old daughter Hadida.

King Mohammed VI ordered the authorities 'to take all necessary measures to help the victims'.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE