A fire in the main prison of the Ghanaian city of Kumasi caused riots and an attempted jail break, prison officials said Thursday, according to AFP.
During the chaos, one inmate was shot dead and four policemen injured.
The fire was reportedly caused by lightning and started in one of the prison cells before spreading to most of the jail, said James Annan, a Kumasi prison spokesman, AFP reports.
Trying to save the inmates’ lives, authorities opened the cells in the prison. Once freed, a number of inmates tried to escape, but were blocked by the police surrounding the prison, AFP says.
