Some 25 inmates of a Brazil prison burned to death on Thursday after prisoners set fire to mattresses in the jail during a clash between rival gangs, officials said.
The fire broke out during a dawn riot at the prison in Ponte Nova, some 180 kilometres southeast of the city of Belo Horizonte. “We can confirm the death of 25 prisoners,” said a spokesman for the Minas Gerais state.
A group of prisoners escaped from one part of the prison and entered another wing of the jail where they surrounded a rival gang, setting the mattresses in their cells on fire, he said. The blaze ravaged the top floor of the building.
Police used water cannon and tear gas to end the riot.