44 perish in huge Burundi prison fire

Nairobi: A massive fire ripped through an overcrowded prison in Burundi before dawn on Tuesday, killing dozens of inmates and seriously injuring many more, the country’s vice president said.

Many inmates were still sleeping at the time of the blaze that destroyed several parts of the facility in Burundi’s political capital Gitega, witnesses said. Vice President Prosper Bazombanza, who visited the scene of the tragedy with several senior ministers, told reporters that 44 people were killed and 69 seriously hurt.

The blaze broke out at about 4:00 am (0200 GMT). The interior ministry said on Twitter it was caused by an electrical short-circuit. "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’," one inmate reached by phone said.