An attempted escape from a Congolese prison leaves 129 people dead, while mass panic and gunfire ensue

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — An attempted escape from Congo's largest prison has left 129 people dead, some shot and others dying in a stampede at the overcrowded facility, authorities said Tuesday. Activists suspect the death toll is higher but did not provide a figure.

According to a preliminary assessment, 24 inmates were killed by guards' “warning shots” early Monday as they tried to escape from Makala Central Prison in the capital Kinshasa, Congolese Interior Minister Jacquemin Shabani said on the social platform X.

“In addition, 59 injured people were cared for by the government and several cases of rape of women were recorded,” he said, adding that order had now been restored in the prison, which was partially burned down during the escape attempt.

He did not elaborate on the rape cases. The prison houses both male and female inmates.

It is not known whether all 129 fatalities were prisoners. It was also not immediately clear how the stampede occurred, as few details about the prison break were available.

Makala, Congo's largest prison with a capacity of 1,500 people, houses over 12,000 inmates, most of whom are awaiting trial, according to Amnesty International's latest country report.

The facility has seen previous prison breakouts, including in 2017, when members of a religious sect stormed the prison and freed dozens of inmates.

According to local residents, the fire in the prison started around midnight on Sunday and lasted until Monday morning.

“There were shots everywhere,” said Stéphane Matondo, who lives nearby. He added that military vehicles arrived shortly afterwards and the main road to the prison was blocked.

Videos posted online show bodies lying on the floor in the prison, many of them with visible injuries. Another video shows prisoners carrying what appear to be lifeless bodies into a vehicle.

There were no signs of a violent break-in at the prison, which is located in the city center, five kilometers from the presidential palace.

The escape attempt was planned by inmates in one wing of the prison, Deputy Justice Minister Mbemba Kabuya told local radio station Top Congo FM.

In the hours following the attack, officials visited the prison as authorities set up a commission to investigate the incident. Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, who is in China on an official visit, has not publicly commented on the incident.

Human rights groups and the opposition called for an independent investigation and accused the government of using excessive force and covering up the true death toll. An earlier statement by a senior government official on Monday said only two people had died.

Opposition leader Martin Fayulu compared the death toll to “martial law” and called it “an unacceptable crime that cannot go unpunished.”

Makala – like other prisons in Congo – is so overcrowded that inmates often starve to death, activists say. In efforts to reduce the population, scores of prisoners have been released in recent months.

Justice Minister Constant Mutamba described the prison break as a “deliberate act of sabotage” and promised a “strong response.” His deputy, Samuel Mbemba Kabuya, blamed the country's judges for prison overcrowding and said people were being quickly detained at the early stages of their trials.

Mutamba announced a ban on the transfer of prisoners from Makala and promised that authorities would build a new prison, among other measures to reduce overcrowding.

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Associated Press writer Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria, contributed to this report.