A devastating attempted mass breakout from the largest prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo has left at least 129 people dead, with many more injured. The incident occurred at Makala Central Prison in Kinshasa, where prisoners tried to break out en masse at around 2 a.m. local time (9 p.m. ET) on Monday. According to Interior Minister Jacquemain Shabani Lukoo Bihango, 24 people were killed by gunshot after warning, while others died from jostling, suffocation, and rape. 59 people are receiving medical care, and extensive damage has been reported to several prison buildings

“The provisional human toll stands at 129 dead including 24 by gunshot after warning. The others died by jostling, suffocation and some women were raped,” Bihango said. One Kinshasa resident, Daddi Soso, told Agence France-Presse that gunfire rang out for several hours during the incident and that he later saw security vehicles removing bodies from the scene. Graphic videos circulating on social media showed dozens of bloodied corpses on the ground.

The prison, which was built to hold 1,500 people, was severely overcrowded with over 12,000 inmates, mostly pretrial detainees. The attempted breakout is the latest in a series of violent attacks on jails in the central African nation. Several prison buildings, including offices, the registry, the infirmary, and food depots, were destroyed by fires during the attempted prison break.

Interior minister Bihango convened a crisis meeting of the country’s defense and security services on Tuesday after receiving instructions from the country’s “senior hierarchy. “The government is relieved “by the restored calm,” he said, adding that investigations into the incident are ongoing. Justice Minister Constant Mutamba condemned the prison break attempt as a “pre-meditated act of sabotage.”

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Mutamba barred public prosecutors from transferring any inmates to Makala prison “until further notice” as part of a series of measures he announced to tackle over-crowding at the country’s prisons. In a statement on X, the European Union called for “an independent and rapid investigation to shed light on these tragic events and establish responsibilities. “Prison breaks are common in the DRC, with several attacks launched on correctional facilities in recent years. In 2017, more than 50 inmates, including the leader of a religious sect, broke free from the Makala prison following an invasion by the group.

In 2020, a rebel group linked to ISIS claimed responsibility for a jailbreak that freed nearly 1,000 inmates from a prison in Beni, in northeastern DRC. At least 11 people, including security personnel, were killed in that attack. Another prison break was recorded the following year at Matadi, one of the country’s oldest prisons, which saw the escape of 189 prisoners. More than 200 other detainees escaped from the same prison in 2022 after seizing weapons from the facility’s armory.