KINSHASA, DR Congo (AFP) – Democratic Republic of Congo authorities are unable to identify the bodies of people killed during a prison break this week that left at least 129 people dead, the justice ministry said Friday.

“Following the fire and ransacking of the registry of the central prison of Makala, following the escape attempt of September 1, 2024, several bodies of prisoners cannot be identified,” the ministry said in a statement.

The statement asked that “families and people who have not had news of relatives who were incarcerated in this prison to go, for identification purposes,” to one of four morgues.

The circumstances around the attempt to bust out of the Makala prison in Kinshasa, which holds 10 times the number it is meant to house, in the early hours of Monday remain unclear.

Witnesses told AFP they heard gunfire at around 2:00 am that lasted for several hours in the area of the prison, a popular and residential neighbourhood.

DRC Interior Minister Jacquemain Shabani announced a provisional death toll of 129 people in a statement released by video on Tuesday.

They included “24 who were shot after warnings”, he said.

At least 59 others had been wounded and were receiving care, he said, adding that many people had been crushed or suffocated and that a number of women had been raped.

But a local NGO said in a statement that “the number of deaths given by the Congolese government is incorrect”.

The group claimed there were just over 15,000 detainees in Makala before the incident, and now there are just over 13,000, taking into account 100 prisoners subsequently transferred to a separate prison.

That would suggest a much higher number of prisoners who either escaped or were killed.

Justice Minister Constant Mutamba has said inquiries are under way “to identify and severely punish the sponsors of these acts of sabotage”.

“The Congolese government’s decision to investigate is a positive step toward ensuring that such a tragedy does not happen again,” Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Friday.

“But the authorities should also take decisive measures immediately to improve the living conditions at Makala prison, in compliance with Congo’s national and international obligations.”

The Makala prison has capacity for 1,500 inmates, but it is overcrowded and rights organisations regularly complain about the conditions of detention at the jail.

It holds 14,000 to 15,000 prisoners, according to official statistics.

“Further delays in tackling prison overcrowding and appalling detention conditions will continue to put lives at risk,” Mudge said.

As well as the human toll, the escape attempt caused damage to buildings, with part of the prison, mainly housing the administrative offices, set on fire, the government said.

The prison was already badly damaged during an attack in 2017 that led to more than 4,000 prisoners escaping, some of them described as “dangerous” by police.