Prisoners die in Tanzanian cell

Nineteen prisoners have suffocated to death in an overcrowded cell in south-western Tanzania.

The prisoners were reportedly shouting that they were running out of breath and that some of them were vomiting blood

The Guardian, Tanzanian newspaper

Fifteen others have been taken to hospital, including at least two who are in a critical condition.

Up to 130 inmates had been packed into a cell supposed to hold only 30 people at Mbarali police station in Mbeya region.

The victims were among 85 suspects who had been moved from a remand jail to the police station so that they could attend a hearing at a nearby district court on Monday.

Cries for help

"Mbarali is a new district. There is a police station and a court, but it has no prison facilities and the police custody there has the capacity to accommodate only 30 people," Dr Kajoka, Mbarali District Medical officer told the French news agency, AFP.

The casualties died on Sunday as a result of the transfer of the 85 from nearby Ruanda prison into the small cell.

Tanzania's Guardian newspaper says that cries for help by the prisoners were ignored by the prison guards who thought it was a ploy to escape.

"A prison warden on guard did not do anything for fear that the remandees could have planned to escape," the paper said.

Investigation

"The prisoners were reportedly shouting that they were running out of breath and that some of them were vomiting blood."

Internal Affairs Minister Mohammed Khatib said he would travel to Mbarali on Wednesday and has ordered an investigation into the deaths.

The minister said that overcrowding was a growing problem in Tanzanian prisons, where 42,000 people are currently incarcerated although the system can only accommodate 22,000.

Various non-governmental organisations have called for urgent reform of the country's prison system, according to Reuter news agency.