Hundreds evacuated from S’African prison fire

Hundreds of prisoners were evacuated from a prison in the eastern part of South Africa on Monday, local authorities confirmed on Monday.

The Glencoe Prison in northern KwaZulu-Natal Province caught fire on Monday afternoon.

“We are still in the process of gathering information, which is proving difficult while the fire is being battled and what we understand is that the prison is still burning,” Police spokesperson of KwaZulu-Natal Thulani Zwane said.

Provincial Correctional Services spokesperson TP Mdluli said that he was not able to confirm if there were any deaths, injuries or inmate escapes.

However, Zwane said there was no reports of prison breaking.

“We have received no reports that any prisoners have escaped and as far as we know they have been evacuated from the building and held by corrections officers,” said Zwane.

The fire has started in the prison’s dining hall and quickly spread and threatened prison offices.