A crowd has set fire to isolation tents at Rwampara General Hospital in eastern DR Congo after authorities blocked relatives from removing the body of a man suspected to have died of Ebola.
Local officials said the violence stems from mistrust of the Ebola response and a local politician who witnessed the attack told other publications that many residents do not believe the virus is real.
According to the BBC, the attack happened in Ituri province near Bunia when family and friends tried to take the body for a traditional burial.
Witnesses said the crowd threw stones, set fire to tents used to isolate suspected cases and police fired warning shots to disperse them.
One healthcare worker was injured before security forces restored order and the hospital was placed under military protection following the incident.
Jean Claude Mukendi who coordinates the security response in Ituri said the deceased was well known locally and mourners did not understand the risks.
The victim’s mother told Reuters she believed he died of typhoid not Ebola.
Authorities said two tents and a body awaiting burial were destroyed in the fire.
Rwampara General Hospital sits in the area where nearly all of Ituri’s recent cases have been recorded and more than 139 people have died in the current outbreak in eastern DR Congo.
