Fifteen people have been killed and five were injured when a stampede broke out in a southwestern Moroccan town as food aid was being distributed in a market.
A hospital source put the death toll at 18, adding that most victims were women who had been scrambling for food handed out by a rich man in the small coastal town of Sidi Boulaalam.
A local journalist said the donor had organised similar handouts before, but this year some 1,000 people arrived, storming an iron barrier under which several women were crushed.
A drought has greatly hurt agricultural output in Morocco recently, contributing to the high cost of basic food items.
King Mohammed ordered that the victims' families be given any assistance they needed and the wounded treated at his cost, the ministry said in a statement, adding that a criminal investigation had been opened.
