REGIONAL: Prisoner dies following explosion at main prison in St Lucia

SOURCE: CMC- A 23-year-old inmate of the Bordelais Correctional Facility (BCF) died Wednesday following an explosion at one of the broilers in the laundry room.

“The information received stated that an inmate had been injured as a result of an explosion. The individual, who was found lying face down on the floor, was pronounced dead by a medical practitioner. Subsequently, the scene was left in the care of the police,” said Stacy Joseph, the Communications Officer at the St. Lucia Fire Service (SLFS).

Media reports quoted prisoners as saying that an industrial steam iron exploded in the laundry room.

The authorities have not yet released the name of the prisoner, who died as a result of the explosion, but his death is the third to have taken place within the prison compound in the past two weeks.

A 21-year-old prisoner, who was serving a sentence for stealing, was stabbed to death last week and a 45-year-old prisoner, who was jailed for  murder, was found bloodied and unresponsive in his cell.