Prisoners set Thai jail on fire over Covid-19 outbreak
Hundreds of prisoners set fire
to a Thai jail during a two-day riot over the handling of a coronavirus
cluster, with some inmates wounded as officers sought to restore order.
Thai prisons are notoriously
overcrowded and have struggled to curb the spread of the virus — more than
87,000 inmates have been infected with 185 recorded deaths, according to the
Corrections Department.
Authorities were set to inspect
the damage Saturday after some 400 prisoners in the southern Thai jail went on
a rampage starting Thursday night, demanding that inmates with the coronavirus
be removed.
The prison has a population of
more than 2100 and roughly 300 have tested positive.
Inmates set fire to their
sleeping quarters Friday evening, following another fire a day earlier, with 31
people subsequently arrested.
They had been taken to a high
security prison, deputy national police spokesman Kissana Phathanacharoen said.
‘There are no fatalities, only
minor injuries,’ he added, after local media reported 14 of the inmates were
wounded with rubber bullets.
‘The situation has been brought
under control since last night and prison officials will inspect any damage
that occurred,’ a Krabi government official told AFP.
Almost 93 per cent of Thailand’s
281,535 inmates have been fully vaccinated, according to the Corrections
Department.