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Ghana's Kumasi prison hit by deadly clashes after fire | Ghana's Kumasi prison hit by deadly clashes after fire |
(about 1 hour later) | |
At least one person has been killed and four others wounded in clashes at a prison in Ghana's Kumasi city when inmates tried to escape after a fire broke out, officials have said. | |
Security officers battled with the prisoners, leaving one inmate dead and four policemen wounded, they added. | |
The prisoners tried to escape as they were being evacuated from their cells after the fire broke out. | |
The fire was caused by lightning, officials said. | |
"We had to open the inmates' [cells] for their lives to be spared," Kumasi prison spokesman James Annan told the AFP news agency. | |
'Bricks hurled' | |
Kumasi-based journalist Erastus Asare Donkor told BBC Newsday that some inmates stole the clothes of prison officers and tried to escape by climbing a wall. | |
Police reinforcements were brought in to help restore order as the situation threatened to deteriorate. | |
Prisoners hurled bricks, chairs and other objects at the police, Mr Annan said. | |
Officers retaliated by firing tear gas and shot dead one inmate when he tried to snatch a gun, he added. | |
But Mr Donkor, who was at the scene during the riot, said that two inmates were killed and five officers were wounded in the clashes. | |
Mr Annan said none of the prisoners managed to escape, and calm had been restored at the prison. |
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