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In Indonesia, a massive fire rampaged through an overcrowded prison near Indonesia's capital of Jakarta, leaving at least 41 inmates killed and dozens injured.
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The blaze, which resulted in at least 81 casualties, broke out in the dead of night, between 1 and 2 a.m. local time at the Tangerang Prison Block C.
As firefighters rushed to extinguish the fire, orange flames lightened the dark sky, with black smoke billowing high into the air from the compound.
Indonesian Red Cross officials evacuated the victims to ambulances and dozens of dead bodies were put into orange bags, and they were laid in a room in the Tangerang prison.
Located on the outskirts of Jakarta, the Tangerang prison houses more than 2,000 prisoners, well above its maximum capacity of 1,225 inmates.
Hundreds of police and soldiers were deployed around the prison to ensure no prisoners will escape.
A preliminary investigation pinpointed the cause of the fire: a short circuit in one of 19 cells in prison Block C2, which was stuffed full with 122 convicts at that time.
The majority of the 41 killed were imprisoned for drug-related offences, including two men from South Africa and Portugal. A terrorism convict and a murderer were also killed in the blaze.
The electrical wiring at the prison had reportedly not been upgraded since 1972, when the prison was built.
8 of the injured are hospitalised with severe burns, while another 9 with light injuries are now being treated at a prison clinic. Others, many suffering smoke inhalation, were evacuated to a mosque in that compound.
Indonesia's Justice and Human Rights minister, Yasona Laoly, vowed to step up efforts to avert a similar tragedy via fixing electricity problems at 477 prisons across the vast archipelago nation.
Jailbreaks and riots that led to fire are common in Indonesia's overcrowded prisons. In April last year, inmates angered by anti-virus restrictions on family visits and the early release of 115 other inmates aimed at curbing COVID's spread set fire to a prison in Sulawesi.
No deaths were reported in the aforesaid incident.
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