Fire yesterday broke out in Muhanga Prison in Southern Province, destroying property worth millions of francs, including buildings and inmates belongings.

By press time, the cause of the fire, which started around midday, was yet to be established.

A huge black plume of smoke billowed from the prison as flames popped up in between. The numbing spectable could be seen kilometres away, with eyewitnesses describing it as an "extremely severe fire.”

A crowd of stunned onlookers stood nearby observing helplessly as the inferno ravaged the prison constructed on the outskirts of Muhanga town, along the Kigali-Huye highway.

After several hours battling the fire, Police fire fighters managed to contain the blaze later in the afternoon.

The extent of the damages caused by the fire was yet to be established by press time.

However, Southern Region Police spokesperson Hubert Gashagaza told The New Times that an entire men’s block was reduced to ashes.

The exact numbers of inmates occupying the block was not readily available.

"Investigations will determine the cause of the fire and the extent of the damages,” Gashagaza said.

No loss of life or injuries were recorded, he added.

A Rwanda Correctional Services official told this paper that when the fire started, inmates were not in their cells.

"The inmates had been out of their rooms to pave way for routine fumigation,” Anastase Nabahire, a spokesperson of RCS, told this paper.

Inmates transferred

When the fire broke out, inmates were put in a safe zone where they were guarded, sources said.

Following the incident, RCS deputy director Mary Gahonzire visited the scene to assess the damages and met political, military, Police and prison officials to discuss the incident.

According to Nabahire, a decision was reached to transfer the inmates to nearby correctional facilities.

He said the inmates were being transferred to Mpanga Prison in Nyanza District, and Butare Prison in Huye District.

Muhanga Prison accommodated about 5,900 people inmates and remanded persons.

"The fire was a shock, but we are happy that no life was lost and that no one attempted to escape during the incident,” Nabahire said.

Formerly known as Gitarama Prison, the Muhanga-based correctional facility was established in 1973. At the time, it had a capacity to accommodate 750 inmates.

After the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, the prison was expanded to accommodate more inmates, particularly Genocide convicts. Today it has capacity to accommodate at least 6,000 inmates, according to RCS figures.

The Muhanga incident is the first case of fire gutting a correctional facility in the country. Fires in other public buildings, shops and institutions such as schools have not been too uncommon.

Many of the fires have been attributed to electrical faults and arson.