Many victims died from being trampled or suffocated under circumstances that remain unclear
At least 129 people died, 24 of them by bullets, during an escape attempt overnight Sunday into Monday at the Democratic Republic of Congo's largest prison in the capital Kinshasa, according to an official tally released Tuesday.
The interior minister also spoke of 59 injured.
Makala prison, the largest in the sprawling central African country, is notorious for holding ten times more inmates (14,000 to 15,000) than its nominal capacity (1,500).
Around 02:00 Monday morning, gunshots started ringing inside the prison, according to residents who spoke to AFP. Gunfire continued for several hours in the popular district of the capital where the detention center is located.
The Minister of the Interior spoke of an “escape attempt that was foiled”. Many victims died from being trampled or suffocated. The minister also talked about some cases of women who were raped, without giving more details.
No clarification has been given by the authorities neither about the number of prisoners who tried to escape, nor about the conditions.< /p>
The detention center, made of concrete, inside which temperatures are often unbearable, has been repeatedly criticized by human rights organizations for the inhumane conditions of confinement.
In addition to the extremely heavy casualty account, the escape attempt also caused extensive property damage. Some of the prison's infrastructure, including the infirmary and correctional officers' office building, was set on fire, according to authorities.
The same detention center had already suffered extensive damage when it was attacked by gunmen in 2017, during the which over 4,000 prisoners escaped.
The circumstances surrounding that mass escape remain unclear to this day.
