A riot broke out at a prison in Sri Lanka, resulting in the deaths of 23 people, including six prison guards, and injuring more than a hundred others. This has become the deadliest prison riot in the country in over five years.
The Sri Lankan police stated on the 6th that two rival drug trafficking gangs clashed overnight inside the main prison of the Negombo area. The injured were rushed to the Negombo hospital.
According to the hospital, there are currently 23 bodies in the morgue, and more than one hundred injured prisoners and prison guards are being treated. Some suffered gunshot wounds, others had knife injuries and severe bruising.
Authorities said that the fighting in Negombo prison began on the evening of the 5th. The prison houses thousands of inmates.
As news of the fighting spread inside the prison, female prisoners in a nearby section climbed onto the roof, demanding their release. Police said that part of the roof collapsed, causing injuries to some of the female inmates.
On the 6th, police commandos were ordered to the scene but were not deployed inside the prison. Large numbers of inmates' relatives gathered outside the prison, while the air force deployed drones and a helicopter to monitor the situation.