Cyclone death toll reaches 10,000, including 30 dead in prison riot

Burma's state radio announced on Monday afternoon that the death toll in Saturday's cyclone had risen to 10,000. Three thousand are missing, writes Edward Loxton for The First Post.

The shocking rise in the death figure from an earlier estimate of 350 - see Loxton's report below - came as news filtered out of Rangoon of more than 30 inmates dying in a riot inside the infamous Insein prison as Saturday's deadly cyclone hit the city.

Sources within the prison told the Burmese exile magazine Irrawaddy that prisoners in one of the prison's cell blocks panicked as 120mph winds ripped the building's roof off. They took over an assembly hall and demanded a transfer to a safer part of the prison.

When the prison authorities refused to move them, the prisoners reportedly set fire to the hall and fought off guards. Troops and riot police were called in to help restore order. Shots were fired, killing or wounding several prisoners. Others reportedly died in the blaze.

Many political prisoners and pro-democracy activists arrested during and after last September's anti-government demonstrations are detained in Insein prison. It is not known whether any of them were involved in the riot.

FIRST POSTED MAY 5, 2008