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| Riot & fire at Poitiers-Vivonne prison in western France (VIDEO, PHOTOS) | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A prison in the French commune of Vivonne, in the Poitou-Charentes region in western France, has been evacuated after convicts started a fire and then refused to return to their cells, local media report. | |
| “A riot has started in one of the buildings of the prison,” Emmanuel Giraud, the official responsible for prisons in the region, is quoted as saying by AFP. | |
| Two inmates attacked a prison officer, taking his keys and then releasing about 60 other inmates, according to local media. They then set part of the building on fire. | |
| “The circumstances of how the detainees were able to steal a set of keys from a prison supervisor and open cells are still undetermined. They set fire to all corridors on the floor,” Giraud said, according to Le Point. | |
| There is no hostage situation and all of the staff members managed to leave the building, which houses a total of 180 inmates, according to media reports. | |
| Firefighters and police units have been dispatched to the scene. An ambulance has arrived at the site and a helicopter landed not far from the prison. |