Mohammed VI

Survivors of Morocco's most strong earthquake in 120 years are now being hit by boulders, with many people being forced to sleep outside after entire mountain villages were flattened. Experts have warned that deadly after-shocks will continue to ravage the country, with seismologists predicting that more than 25 have arrived since Friday. The death toll has continued to rise as bodies are pulled from the ruins three days after the 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck, with officials saying today that at least 2,500 people have died and thousands more are injured. A mother and her three sons who survived the country's deadliest earthquake in sixty years have shared of their remarkable escape - revealing how they ran from their house mere seconds before it crashed. Khadija Elhil Ali, 32, and her children had no idea what was going wrong when the first tremors struck late Friday night in Asflala, 35 miles south of Marrakech in the Atlas mountains, and Khadija Elhil Ali, 32, had no idea what was wrong.

So far, the country's most powerful earthquake has killed 2,497 people and injured thousands, with international rescue teams now joining the war against time to save any remaining survivors in flattened mountain villages. According to the United Nations, around 300,000 people were affected by the earthquake, with many people homeless or afraid more after being forced to sleep on the streets of Marrakech for the past three nights. On Friday night, a CCTV video shows the moment it struck a street in the tumultuous city, with people jumping to their feet and running away as buildings crumbled around them. In another uplifting video of a wedding reception in Marrakech, a singer and guitarist abandoning the stage as the tremors shook the venue, where people had descended on the venue to celebrate.

In Belgium, a former hotel receptionist from Israel has started court hearings to establish that she is the niece of Morocco's King Hassan II. In her struggle to be recognised as the late King's daughter, Jane Benzaquen, 70, is urging members of Morocco's royal family to submit DNA tests. After meeting King Hassan at the age of 17 while working as a shop assistant in Casablanca, the Belgian-Israeli national suspect has had an affair. Ms Benzaquen was escorted out of Morrocco and raised in Belgium by a foster family as a young child. Ms Benzaquen, who moved to Israel aged 18 to join the IDF, now stands fighting to show that she is a Moroccan princess.