Four more inmates have succumbed to their injuries sustained after a fire incident on Saturday night in Evin prison in the Iranian capital Tehran, raising the death toll to eight, Iran’s Judiciary announced on Monday.
The judiciary had said on Sunday that the fire broke out following a clash among a number of prisoners convicted of financial crimes, leaving four dead and dozens of inmates wounded due to smoke inhalation, some of them with serious injuries.
It added the identities of the deceased have been notified to their next of kin and, their names will be publicly announced after a court warrant.
The prisoners reportedly set fire to a warehouse full of prison uniforms, which caused the blaze, but security forces intervened to restore calm.
Video footage showed plumes of smoke rising into the sky amid the sound of an alarm, but firefighters extinguished the flames within hours and rescued 70 inmates.
Officials also said security guards foiled an attempted prison break by some of the inmates convicted of violent and dangerous crimes, but dismissed an earlier report by Iran’s Fars News Agency that several prisoners lost their lives after fleeing the scene and running towards the mine field in the northern part of the prison.
On Saturday, Tehran Prosecutor Ali Salehi denied the incident was related to the recent unrest and riots in Iran that saw the detention of many people involved in the mayhem.
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