A massive fire that swept through a prison in Honduras has killed over 350 people, including many inmates trapped in their cells.
A senior official at the attorney general's office, Danelia Ferrera, said 359 people died in the blaze that began late last night at the prison in Comayagua, about 75km north of the capital Tegucigalpa.
"It's a terrible scene . . . our staff went into the cells, and the bodies are charred, most of them are unrecognisable."
The prison was holding some 852 prisoners, well above its capacity. “The majority could be dead, though others could have suffered burns, escaped or survived,” said a prison spokeswoman.
It was one of the worst prison fires ever in Latin America.
A fire department spokesman said he saw “hellish” scenes, adding: “Some prisoners were burned to death or suffocated in their cells". He said many prisoners were trapped because the guard who had the key to their cells could not be found.
“We heard screaming from the people who caught on fire," one prisoner told reporters, showing the fingers he fractured in his escape from the fire. "We had to push up the roof panels to get out."
Local firemen said they were prevented from entering the prison due to gunshots.
But Daniel Orellana, head of the prison system, said there was no riot. "We have two hypotheses, one is that a prisoner set fire to a mattress and the other one is that there was a short circuit in the electrical system," he said.
One prisoner told a radio station that someone started screaming, “Fire, fire,” and the prisoners called for help. “For a while, nobody listened. But after a few minutes, which seemed like an eternity, a guard appeared with keys and let us out,” he said.
Outraged relatives of dead inmates tried to storm the gates of the prison to recover the bodies but were driven back by police officers firing tear gas. Dozens of the relatives hurled rocks at officers.
"We want to see the body," said Juan Martinez, whose son was reported dead. "We'll be here until we get to do that."
Hundreds of other relatives rushed to Santa Teresa Hospital in Comayagua state to learn the fate of their loved ones.
Police said it would take at least three months to identify victims, some burned beyond recognition, because DNA tests will be required.
Honduras, which is plagued by violent gangs, recorded more than 80 murders per 100,000 people in 2009, a rate 16 times that of the United States, according to a United Nations report last year.
The country is also a major drug trafficking transit point for South American cocaine moving north to consumers in the United States, and authorities say there is increasing presence of violent Mexican drug cartels in the country.
There are frequent riots and clashes between members of rival street gangs in its overcrowded prisons. Across the country the jails are filled double to their capacity.
More than 100 prisoners were killed in a fire in the textile manufacturing town of San Pedro Sula several years ago, and survivors said later that guards fired on prisoners trying to escape the blaze.
President Porfirio Lobo declared an emergency in July 2010 in nine of the country's 24 prisons. His security minister at the time called the prisons "universities of crime" that had been overwhelmed by overcrowding.
Agencies