Security forces have retaken control of a crowded prison in western Indonesia where inmates started a massive riot that left five people dead and hundreds of prisoners, including convicted terrorists, on the loose.

About 500 policemen and 300 soldiers have been deployed around Tanjung Gusta prison in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, where the riot broke out on Thursday night.

Fire brigades have also been battling fires started by prisoners which had engulfed the jail.

Prison directorate spokesman Akbar Hadi said the situation is now under control after soldiers entered the prison without resistance.

Hundreds of policemen have blocked roads linking Medan to the provinces of Aceh, Jambi and West Sumatra while searching for inmates who escaped during the riot, which began after a protest over a lack of water and electricity turned violent.

Indonesian authorities said security forces had recaptured 64 out of 240 prisoners who fled the facility in the nation’s third-largest city.

Inmates had been in control of the jail until early on Friday morning, casually chatting outside their cells while heavily armed security forces formed a cordon round the building.

Five people, three prisoners and two prison staff, were killed in the riots. Ten civilian guards had briefly been held hostage but were later released.

Prisoners still on the loose included five of the 14 terror convicts that were being held at the institution.

The terrorists are believed to have links to Toni Togar, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence in a separate prison for a series of church bombings in Sumatra in 2000, according to the Jakarta Post.

A spokesman for the justice and human rights ministry, Goncang Raharjo, said that, like many jails in Indonesia, Tanjung Gusta was overcrowded – holding more than double its official capacity.

“The prison capacity is only 1,054 but it now holds about 2,600 convicts and suspects on trials.

“Most prisons across the country have this problem,” he said.

Watch Indonesia Prison Riot

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