356 died in Honduras prison fire
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E-mail Xinhua, February 15, 2012
At least 356 died and dozens more were injured after a fire swept through a central Honduras prison Tuesday night, local media quoted officials as saying Wednesday.
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Relatives of inmates cry outside the National Prison of Comayagua where at least 356 prisioners were killed and scores injured when fire tore through the prison in central Honduras on Feb. 15, 2012. [Xinhua/AFP] |
There are fears the toll could climb beyond 400 as local officials continue to search for bodies in what's becoming one of the worst prison fires in the country.
The cause of the fire was still under investigation, local fire department official Col. Leonel Silva said, adding witnesses had heard gunshots in the prison before the fire started.
Daniel Orellana, head of Honduras' prison system, cited an ignited mattress and a short circuit in the electrical system as possible causes of the blaze.
Firefighters were allowed into the prison only hours after the deadly fire engulfed the crowded prison, which was holding more than 800 inmates, a significant overload that's commonly seen in the country's prisons.
Local fire department spokesman Josue Garcia said the guard with keys to the cells could not be reached.
Silva said the prison was "filled with charred bodies" when the fire was finally put out, with many inmates burnt or suffocated in their cells.
A doctor working at a nearby Santa Teresa Hospital confirmed that badly burned patients began arriving for treatment early Wednesday.
Many of the victims were quite young, and the hospital had already organized a expert team to treat them, he said.
More than 1,000 grieving relatives of the inmates have gathered at the hospital and the prison, pressing against barricades of soldiers and police, anxious to find out what had happened to their family members.
Their anxiety and grieving turned to anger when they were banned from entering the burned down prison to search for their loved ones, triggering a small confrontation in surrounding streets.
Lucy Marder, forensic department chief of Comayagua state, said one of the victims was a woman staying the night at the prison, and it would take at least three months to identify all victims, as DNA tests were required for some victims burned beyond recognition.
The Comayagua fire department chief also died in the blaze, according to local media.
It is feared 475 prisoners, accounting for more than half the inmates, escaped as the fire raged, destroying the prison.
The prison is located in the town of Comayagua in the center of the Latin American country, which registered 80 homicides per 100,000 people in 2009, according to U.N. statistics.
Major prison havoc caused by fire and gang violence that killed hundreds was also reported in 2004 and 2011.
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