An attempted escape from the main prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo has left at least 129 people dead in a horror stampede.
24 inmates were shot dead by ‘warning’ gunshots as they tried to escape from the overcrowded Makala Central Prison in Kinshasa early on Monday, Congolese interior minister Jacquemin Shabani said on X.
59 are believed to be injured and there are also cases of women being raped in the chaos, he said.
Makala, the country’s largest prison, has a capacity for 1,500 people but holds more than 12,000 inmates according to Amnesty International.
The facility has recorded previous escapes, including in 2017 when an attack by a religious sect freed dozens.
Gunfire inside the prison started in the early hours of Monday, with a senior government official previously only confirming two deaths – which was quickly disputed.
Videos that appeared to be from the prison showed bodies lying on the ground, many of them with visible injuries. Another video showed inmates carrying people who appeared to be dead into a vehicle.
There were no signs of forced entry into the prison, which is in the city centre, three miles from the presidential palace.
The attempted escape was plotted from inside the prison by inmates in one of the wings, Mbemba Kabuya, the deputy justice minister, told the local Top Congo FM radio.
In the hours that followed the attack, the road to the prison was cordoned off while authorities convened a panel to investigate the incident.
Makala, among other prisons in Congo, is so overcrowded that people often die from starvation, activists say.
Scores of inmates have been released this year as part of efforts to decongest the prisons.
Justice minister Constant Mutamba called the attack a ‘premeditated act of sabotage’, adding that those who ‘instigated these acts of sabotage will receive a stern response.’
He also announced a ban on the transfer of inmates from the prison and said authorities will build a new prison, among other efforts to reduce overcrowding.
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