Thirty-eight people were killed and 69 seriously injured in a fire that ravaged the central prison of Gitega, the capital of Burundi on Tuesday, December 7, the vice-president Prosper Bazombanza told reporters.
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Several witnesses told AFP that the fire, which broke out in the early morning, had completely charred parts of this overcrowded prison, which housed 1,539 inmates (for 400 places) at the end of November, according to administration figures. penitentiary.
According to these witnesses, who described "
huge flames
", the fire broke out around 4:00 am local time (02:00 GMT), surprising the detainees in their sleep.
The fire started by a "short circuit"
"
We started screaming that we were going to be burned alive when we saw the flames going up very high, but the police refused to open the doors to our neighborhood saying these are the orders we have received,
" he said. told AFP a detainee, reached by phone. "
I don't know how I escaped from it, but there are prisoners who have been burned to the ground
," he said.
According to a police source, the emergency services were slow to get there.
A first fire truck arrived two hours after the start of the fire, before being joined by six others from nearby provinces, she said.
The fire was caused by a "
short circuit,
" the Ministry of the Interior, Community Development and Public Safety said on Twitter.
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On August 21, a fire affected an area of the central prison, causing no casualties.
The Interior Ministry said that this incident was also due to a short circuit.
Built in 1926, the central prison of the Burundian political capital Gitega, in the center of the country, is the third largest in Burundi after that of Mpimba, located in the economic capital Bujumbura, and that of Rumonge.