Rotterdam prison fire injures five

Four prison guards and one prisoner were taken to hospital on Wednesday morning to be treated for smoke inhalation in a fire in De Schie prison on Professor Jonkersweg in Rotterdam. Two of the injured inhaled a large amount of smoke, but no one is in life-threatening danger, a spokesperson for the fire department said to newspaper AD.

The fire started in a cell around 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday. It was in the cell of the prisoner who was taken to hospital. The cell block had to be evacuated due to a large amount of smoke. A total of seven people were treated for smoke inhalation, five at the hospital and the other two on site. The injured included the one prisoner, personnel members and first responders of the emergency services.

So far it is unclear how the fire started, the police are investigating. "Assume that a fire doesn't just start", the fire department spokesperson said to the newspaper.