A fire allegedly set by feuding inmates raged through a prison southeast of Buenos Aires early yesterday and killed 32 inmates.
All the deaths appeared to have been caused by asphyxiation after inmates were overcome by smoke, said Justice Minister Eduardo Di Rocco of Buenos Aires province, where the prison is located.
Mr Di Rocco said inmates first began fighting just before midnight and then set mattresses and blankets alight. The fire spread through one of several cellblocks in the sprawling prison in Magdalena, 45 miles southeast of Buenos Aires.
He added that it was unclear what caused the disturbance, but he rejected initial reports that a demand for more visiting hours for relatives led up to the blaze. He said the fire was contained to one unit known as Pavilion 16.
Mr Di Rocco said a prison officer was critically injured by a blow to the head and had to be hospitalised, along with a second prison officer. During the fight, authorities said, a kitchen area and a workshop were torched.
Television footage showed women shouting insults at riot police guarding the main entrance. The family members were demanding a full accounting of the dead and injured.
Some of the relatives briefly scuffled with police, who held them back with shields before prison officers later calmed the crowd and allowed visitors to begin entering other areas of the prison, which houses more than 800 inmates.
AP