RIYADH: Sixty-seven inmates died and 20 were injured on Monday in a fire at Al Hair jail, Saudi Arabia’s biggest prison, while three members of the security staff were also hurt in the incident, the Director-General of the General Administration of Prisons of the Ministry of Interior announced.
Efforts to control the fire, which was reported to have started at around 12 noon, were continuing till the filing of this report. No reason was given for the outbreak of the fire.
The official Saudi Press Agency reported that the interior minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz immediately announced the formation of a committee to determine the fire’s causes.
It was not clear if the prison, located at the outskirts of Riyadh, contained any of the Al Qaeda members, arrested recently in the crackdown against extremist elements in the Kingdom.
“The fire was reported to have started from the Wing 19 of the facility, housing 200 prisoners,” the SPA later quoted other Saudi officials as saying, citing an accidental fire in a sponge mattress as the cause of the blaze.
Some wire agencies quoted the London-based Saudi dissident Saad Al Fagih of the Movement for Islamic Reforms as saying that more than 80 inmates have been killed in the fire.
According to Saad Al Fagih two versions for the causes of fire were being put forward. Some people claimed that the fire was deliberately ignited by a group of prison inmates, protesting against jail conditions while others said that the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit.
Roads, leading to the prison, have been blocked and the rescue agencies were still reported to be busy in their work.
Till the filing of this report, nationalities of those killed or injured in the incident was not clear. The exact number of Pakistanis jailed in this prison is also not known. A few Pakistani prisoners were however, believed to be among the inmates.
Pakistan embassy’s welfare attache in Riyadh Pervez Junejo, who was on his way to Jubail, confirmed on phone that some Pakistanis “are generally present in the Hair jail.” However, he had no specific information about the exact number of Pakistanis currently imprisoned in the jail.
Manzoor Mian, another Pakistani diplomat contacted by this correspondent, said that as part of a regular visit, an embassy team was sent to the jail on Monday afternoon. However, in view of the fire, the police had cordoned off the area and no one was allowed entry. Even the embassy car was not allowed to go, he said.
OPPOSITION’S CLAIM: The Saad Al Fagih said as many as 144 inmates and 40 security men were killed in the fire, adds AFP.
“According to an unimpeachable security source, 144 inmates have died in the fire at Al-Hair prison, in addition to 32 policemen and eight police officers,” the group was quoted as having told AFP in Dubai.