A prison break in the Haitian city of Saint-Marc on Friday left 12 inmates dead, Mayor Myriam Fievre said, the third such incident in Haiti in the past few months amid a protracted humanitarian crisis fueled by gang violence.
State Prosecutor Venson Francois said the situation on Friday afternoon was under control at the prison, which housed about 540 inmates, but the local population should remain vigilant and watch for escapees.
“The situation is under control, but the results are catastrophic. All the cops’ dormitories have burnt down. The archives have burnt down. They’ve set everything on fire except their cells,” Francois said.
Photo: Reuters
Earlier in the day, unverified videos shared on social media showed people climbing over walls and smoke streaming out of walls ringed with barbed wire, a loud explosion and fire.
Walter Montas, a local government official, said the incident had developed out of a spontaneous protest as prisoners were going without food and facing appalling health conditions.
The national police did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for more information on the incident in Saint-Marc, about 88km north of the capital.
More than 7,500 people were being held in Haitian prisons at the end of June, down from nearly 12,000 before gangs broke thousands out of the two largest prisons in March, UN data showed.
The March prison break triggered a state of emergency that was followed by the resignation of former Haitian prime minister Ariel Henry, who had traveled abroad to secure Kenya’s support in a security mission to battle the armed gangs, and was unable to return due to the fighting.
Just 400 of 1,000 police pledged by Kenya have so far arrived.
With many cells filled to close to quadruple their capacity, the UN said poor conditions and a lack of necessities have resulted in the deaths of at least 109 inmates so far this year.
Local newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported that prison officials had been on strike demanding better government treatment.
It cited Francois saying there was “great fear of mutiny,” without giving more details.
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including