Eight men, seven guards and one detainee died of asphyxiation on Wednesday in a septic tank in the prison of Oued Ghir, near Béjaïa, a large city of Kabylie (northeast of Algeria), according to the Algerian Minister of Justice , Belkacem Zeghmati.
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The eight victims had gone down into the pit, inside the penitentiary center, to clean it.
Their remains were transferred to the mortuary of the Bejaïa regional hospital for autopsy.
"
A prisoner and seven guards died from asphyxiation in a septic tank located inside the prison of Oued Ghir, at the end of the structure,
" said Mr. Zeghmati, quoted by the official APS agency.
"
The circumstances of this accident will be determined following a preliminary investigation
," added Zehmati, who visited the site on Wednesday afternoon with his colleague from the Interior, Kamel Beldjoud.
According to the director of Civil Protection of Béjaïa, Nourredine Fedi, the eight victims were fatally asphyxiated following emanations of hydrogen sulphide, a toxic gas.
Nourredine Fedi explained that Civil Protection agents had cleaned the pit before removing the corpses.
Built on an area of 10 hectares, the prison of Oued Ghir, inaugurated in October 2010, is located 10 km from the capital of the wilaya (prefecture) of Bejaïa.
It has a capacity of 1,000 places.
When it opened, the authorities highlighted the fact that this prison "
meets modern standards of detention
" and has all the amenities.
