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Burundi's Vice President Prosper Bazombanza
Photo: TCHANDROU NITANGA / AFP
According to government reports, 38 people were killed in a fire in an overcrowded prison in Burundi, East Africa.
69 other people were seriously injured, said Burundi's Vice President Prosper Bazombanza.
The fire had therefore ravaged early Tuesday morning in the central prison of the capital Gitega.
As the fire spread, many of the inmates were locked in their cells and were still sleeping.
One inmate told AFP: "We yelled that we would be burned alive when we saw the flames spread." But the police refused to unlock the doors.
Security forces cordoned off the prison
The fire devastated large parts of the prison.
The cause of the fire was initially unknown.
Security forces cordoned off the prison.
According to official statistics from the end of November, the prison, which is designed for 400 inmates, last had more than 1,500 inmates.
Most of them are men, but there is also a separate section for women.
Burundi borders Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
It is considered the poorest country in the world.
In 2019, the per capita income in Burundi was less than one dollar a day.
bam / AFP