AN EBOLA treatment centre was set on fire in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo on Thursday after people were stopped from retrieving the body of a local man, a witness and a senior police officer said.

The centre in Rwampara was burned by local youths who became angry while trying to retrieve the body of a friend who had reportedly died of Ebola, according to an eye witness.

“The police intervened to try to calm the situation, but unfortunately they were unsuccessful,” said Alexis Burata, a student who was in the area. “The young people ended up setting fire to the centre. That’s the situation.”

Deputy senior commissioner Jean Claude Mukendi, head of the public security department in Ituri Province, said the victims’ “family, friends, and other young people wanted to take his body home for a funeral even though the instructions from the authorities during this Ebola virus outbreak are clear. All bodies must be buried according to the regulations.”

Hama Amadou, field co-ordinator for the humanitarian organisation Alima, which had teams working at the centre, said later that calm had been restored and that aid teams were continuing their work there.

The World Health Organisation says there have been 160 suspected deaths and 671 suspected cases in the DR Congo.