Inmates set fires and tried to tear down a fence in a massive riot at a prison in the US state of Indiana on Tuesday in which at least two members of the corrections staff were injured, officials said.
"There is no way you can have a full scale riot and not have some kind of injuries," Mayor Tom Nipp told Fox News, adding he did "not have any specific information yet as to the nature of those injures."
Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the "disturbance" at the New Castle Correctional Facility, a medium security men's prison, the Department of Corrections was quoted as saying by the Indianapolis Star newspaper.
Prisoners set at least three blazes and attempted to rip down fences, prompting police and corrections officials to try to secure the perimeter and determine if any inmates had escaped.
Television footage showed white-clad inmates crowding along walkways on the prison grounds and fires burning in various locations around the prison, which can house 2,400 inmates.
"The fact that they are burning on the outside is a good sign for us," said Joseph Garcia, senior tactical instructor for US Corrections-Special Operations Group.
"If they were burning on the inside we would have a lot of toxic fumes and the casualty rate would be very high."
Corrections officials told local Indiana television that there were 1,000 inmates from Indiana currently at the facility, which is state-owned but privately managed.
At least 630 extra inmates had been transferred to the prison from Arizona, a process that began last month, Katie Decker of the Arizona Department of Correction told Indiana's Channel 8.
Both groups of inmates took part in the riot, officials said.
