Indonesia: Prison Fire Kills 41 Drug Inmates, 80 Hospitalized

A huge fire raged through an overcrowded prison near Indonesia’s capital early Wednesday, killing at least 41 inmates and injuring 80 others.

Jakarta Police Chief Fadil Imran told reporters that the fire had been extinguished for about two hours, pointing out that hundreds of police and soldiers were deployed around the prison to prevent prisoners from escaping.

Televised footage showed firefighters battling to extinguish flames while black smoke billowed from the compound. Dozens of bodies in orange bags were laid in a room of Tangerang prison on the outskirts of Jakarta.

“The situation is now under control,” Imran said, adding that at least 41 inmates were killed and 80 are hospitalized, eight of them with severe burns.

In the same vein, Imran affirmed that authorities would investigate the cause but the preliminary investigation pointed to a short circuit in one of the block’s cell.

Rika Aprianti, spokesperson for the corrections department at the Justice Ministry, Tangerang prison was designed to house 1,225 inmates but has more than 2,000.

Aprianti added that Block C, where the fire occurred, was stuffed full of 122 convicts. She noted that 15 prison officers guarding the area were unhurt.

Jailbreaks and riots that led to fire are common in Indonesia, where overcrowding has become a problem in prisons that are struggling with poor funding and large numbers of people arrested in a war on illegal drugs.