Local rescue workers and medical staff said several hundred people were injured.

The previous toll from MAP had been 69 dead.

The quake, which hit the northeastern province of Al Hoceima on the Mediterranean coast at 2:27 am (0227 GMT), measured 6.3 points on the Richter scale, according to the French earth sciences laboratory in Strasbourg.

The National Geographical Institute in Spain estimated the intensity at 6.1 points on the Richter scale, and said the quake was centred 15 kilometres (nine miles) southeast of the port of Al Hoceima, some 50 kilometres west of the Spanish-ruled north African enclave of Melilla.

TERRA.WIRE