Four Injured In Bali`s Kerobokan Prison Riot

Kuta (Antara Bali) - Four people were injured in Tuesday night`s riot and fire at Bali`s Kerobokan state penitentiary and one of them was a police officer, eye witnesses said.

The injured police officer and three prison inmates were immediately rushed to Trijata Hospital on Wednesday morning for intensive medical treatment.

The fire whose origin and perpetrator were not yet known had destroyed the prison`s office area that included the chief warden`s room, registration and administration room and armory.

The rioters who apparently were protesting alleged unfair treatment by guards were unable to lay their hands on the prison`s fire arms as prison officers had removed the weapons from the armory in time.

"As soon as the fire began to touch the office area, we immediately opened up the armory and took away all the weapons deposited there," said Agus Primana, one of the prison`s security guards.

Tens of long- and short-barrel guns and their ammunition were taken out of the building at 23.00 hours and later handed over to police, Agus said while cleaning up debris from the fire.

But a few of the fire arms including short-barrel guns, tear gas pistols and some ammunition were also burned, he said.

Meanwhile, a number of prison staff were seen in the half burnt out building in dejected mood as their working tools such as computers and printers had also sustained irreparable damage.

In the prison`s parking area the scene was a mess with garbage and fragments of burned objects strewn around and the ground wet not because of rain but by water from the fire trucks that had come to put out the fire.

Meanwhile, the police were still investigating the cause of the fire. It was provisionally believed some of the rioting inmates had thrown around Molotov cocktails. "We are still trying to check out this possibility," Bali Police Chief Insp Gen Totoy Herawan Indra said.(*/T007)