Many prisoners are feared dead after a huge fire razed down the main prison in Burundi’s political town of Gitega.
Photos shared in social media show bodies of those believed to be prisoners but the Burundi authorities are yet to issue a statement on the matter.
A journalist from a private media house said that firefighters arrived at the prison but a big part of the prison had already been burnt.
“Many nurses of Gitega hospital were mobilized and we saw them entering the prison to help,” the journalist told BBC.
According to a prisoner who survived the incident, the fire broke out at around 4 am on Tuesday morning in the prisoners’ sleeping halls while many were still asleep.
“We started shouting that we were going to be burned alive when we saw the flames rising very high, but the police refused to open the doors of our quarters, saying ‘these are the orders we have received,” the inmate told AFP news.
“I don’t know how I escaped, but there are prisoners who were burned completely,” he added.
The prison housed more than 1,500 inmates at the end of November, according to prison authority figures, far higher than its capacity of 400.
The cause of the fire is yet to be established.
Another fire incident was witnessed at the prison in late August but no casualties were reported.
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