The fire in prison in the Indonesian Banten province broke out between 1 am, and 2 am on Wednesday, killing 40 people, a spokesperson for the prison department of the law and human rights ministry in Indonesia said.

Iran PressAsia: “The cause is under investigation,” said Rika Aprianti, adding that inmates were still being evacuated from the jail in Java’s westernmost province.

The block housed inmates being held for drug-related offenses and had a capacity for 122 people, she said. 

According to government data, the prison in Tangerang, an industrial and manufacturing hub near Jakarta, housed more than 2,000 inmates, far more than its 600 people capacity, as of September.

Moreover, Kompas TV showed footage of firefighters trying to put out huge flames from the top of a building. The broadcaster reported 41 people had died and 8 had been seriously injured.

“The initial suspicion is this was because of an electrical short circuit,” police spokesperson Yusri Yunus told Metro TV, which cited a police report saying that 73 people also had light injuries.

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