SAUDI-PRISON-FIRE

Relatives of prisoners and staff wait 15 September 2003 outside the Al-Hair jail on the southern edge of the Saudi capital Riyadh, following a fire in which 67 inmates died and 20 were injured earlier in the day. The blaze in Saudi Arabia's biggest prison "left 67 inmates dead, as well as 20 inmates and three security men wounded," the official SPA news agency quoted the prison chief as saying. It was unclear from the terse official statements if the fire, which had been put out by the evening, was the result of an accident or if it had been deliberately started by inmates protesting prison conditions. AFP PHOTO/Bilal QABALAN