Interior Minister Shabani Lukoo said 24 people were shot dead while others died of suffocation in the crowd.
Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said at least 129 people have been killed while trying to escape from Makala central prison in the capital Kinshasa.
In a statement published in X on Tuesday morning, Interior Minister Shabani Lukoo said the prisoners tried to escape on Monday amid a fire that affected the building's administrative buildings, including the infirmary.
“The provisional death toll is 129, including 24 from gunshot wounds, following the warning,” Lukoo said in a statement published on X, adding that some 59 people were injured.
He said there was “significant material damage.”
Lukoo said he was holding a “crisis” meeting with defence and security services but calm had been restored.
Makala Prison is the largest in the Democratic Republic of Congo and was built to hold 1,500 prisoners.
According to official figures, there are currently between 14,000 and 15,000 detainees, most of them awaiting trial, according to Amnesty International in its latest report on the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The prison has seen jailbreaks in the past, including one in 2017 when more than 4,000 inmates escaped from the facility following a nighttime attack by gunmen.
Authorities had been trying to reduce overcrowding and had released dozens of inmates in recent months.
There was no public comment on Monday's incident from Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi, who is in China on an official visit.
Justice Minister Constant Mutamba called the attack a “premeditated act of sabotage” carried out to undermine efforts to improve prison conditions.
“Investigations are underway to identify and severely punish those who instigated these acts of sabotage. They will receive a severe response,” Mutamba said.
He also announced a ban on transfers of inmates from the prison and said authorities would build a new prison, among other efforts to reduce overcrowding.
