A fire killed 41 inmates in an overcrowded prison block in Indonesia’s Banten province,today morning (08 Sep) , injuring scores more,in a blaze that police said may have been caused by an electrical fault.
The fire, which broke out past midnight. at the Tangerang Prison Block C, had been extinguished and authorities were still evacuating the facility, said Rika Aprianti, a spokeswoman of the prison department of the law and human rights ministry.
“The cause is under investigation,” she said.
The block housed inmates being held for drug-related offences and had a capacity for 122 people, she said. which cited a police report saying that 73 people also had light injuries
She did not say how many people were present when the fire broke out, but confirmed the jail was overcrowded.
The prison in Tangerang, an industrial and manufacturing hub near Jakarta, housed more than 2,000 inmates, far more than its 600 people capacity, according to government data as of September.
Kompas TV showed footage of firefighters trying to put out huge flames from the top of a building. The broadcaster reported 41 people had died and 8 had been seriously injured.
