JAKARTA, Sept 8 (Reuters) – A fire broke up a crowded block in a prison in Banten province in Indonesia in the early hours of Wednesday, killing at least 40 people and injuring dozens, a spokeswoman for the city said in a statement. government and media.
The fire, which broke out at 1 to 2 in the morning in block C of Tangerang prison, had been extinguished and authorities were still evacuating the facility, said Rika Aprianti, a spokeswoman for the ministry’s prison department. of rights and human rights.
“The cause is being investigated,” he said.
The block housed inmates detained for drug-related offenses and had a capacity for 122 people, he said.
He did not say how many people were present when the fire broke out, but confirmed that the prison was overcrowded.
The Tangerang prison, an industrial and manufacturing center near Jakarta, housed more than 2,000 inmates, a capacity well in excess of 600 people, according to government data in September.
Kompas TV showed footage of firefighters trying to put out huge flames from the top of a building. The station reported that 41 people had died and 8 had been seriously injured.
“The initial suspicion is that this is due to an electrical short circuit,” police spokesman Yusri Yunus told Metro TV, citing a police report that said 73 people also had minor injuries.
Reports by Agustinus Beo Da Costa, Stanley Widianto and Fransiska Nangoy Writing by Gayatri Suroyo Edited by Ed Davies
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