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wow15 February 2012 Last updated at 15:39 GMT
Honduras prison fire kills hundreds
A massive fire has swept through a jail in Honduras, killing at least 300 prisoners, officials say.
Many victims were burned or suffocated to death in their cells at the jail in Comayagua, in central Honduras.
The officials say at least 300 are confirmed dead, but a further 56 inmates, out of the 853 in the prison, are missing and presumed dead.
An inquiry is under way whether the blaze was caused by rioting or an electrical fault.
Relatives of suspected victims later tried to force their way into the prison, desperate for news.
Police responded by firing shots into the air and tear gas.
'Hellish' scenes
The fire broke out late on Tuesday night and took more than an hour to be brought under control.
Dozens of prisoners died trapped in their cells and were burned beyond recognition.
Comayagua firefighters' spokesman Josue Garcia said there were "hellish" scenes at the prison and that desperate inmates had rioted in a bid to escape the flames.
"We couldn't get them out because we didn't have the keys and couldn't find the guards who had them," he said.
Lucy Marder, who heads the forensic services in Comayagua, said that 356 people on the prison roster were unaccounted for.
Army and police stand guard at the jail in Comayagua The prison was holding more than 800 inmates
.
"The majority could be dead, though others could have suffered burns, escaped or survived," Ms Marder said.
It was feared many inmates had fled the prison in Comayagua, about 100km (60 miles) north of the capital Tegucigalpa.
Amid the confusion, relatives gathered outside the prison to try to get information.
"I'm looking for my brother. We don't know what's happened to him and they won't let us in," Arlen Gomez told Honduran radio.
Local hospitals are treating dozens of people for burns and other injuries.
Some of the injured have been taken to Tegucigalpa for treatment, among them 30 people with severe burns.
Firefighters said they had struggled to enter the prison because shots had been fired.
Honduran media reported that there had been a riot in the prison before the fire broke out.
Prison service head Daniel Orellana denied this.
"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 was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Prisons in Honduras, which has the world's highest murder rate, are often seriously overcrowded and hold many gang members.
Are you in Honduras? Have you been affected by the fire? Please send us your comments using the form below
Dizzy28 wrote:Would be nice for that to happen in the Death row section at Frederick Street Gaol.
redmanjp wrote:Dizzy28 wrote:Would be nice for that to happen in the Death row section at Frederick Street Gaol.
yeah but think of the possible million $ lawsuits that will follow that tax payers would have to pay & that is just Death Row- imagine d whole jail bunin down
Cid wrote:redmanjp wrote:Dizzy28 wrote:Would be nice for that to happen in the Death row section at Frederick Street Gaol.
yeah but think of the possible million $ lawsuits that will follow that tax payers would have to pay & that is just Death Row- imagine d whole jail bunin down
men does stay in jail ah extra week and sue the state for all kinda 200k an thing normel
Habit7 wrote:As much as some might want to rejoice over this, imagine yourself in jail wrongfully, or for a petty crime or some other legal issue, and you get the ultimate punishment to burn to death...
Habit7 wrote:As much as some might want to rejoice over this, imagine yourself in jail wrongfully, or for a petty crime or some other legal issue, and you get the ultimate punishment to burn to death...
vrampersad14 wrote:Ironic if any arsonists died in the blaze.
BrotherHood wrote:Habit7 wrote:As much as some might want to rejoice over this, imagine yourself in jail wrongfully, or for a petty crime or some other legal issue, and you get the ultimate punishment to burn to death...
IMO, once convicted, you are guilty. I highly doubt someone serves time in prison wrongfully.
Honduras jail fire: most prisoners had not been convicted
Inmates who survived the Comayagua prison fire in Honduras. Photograph: Jorge Dan Lopez/REUTERS
The 358 prisoners who died when a Honduran prison burned down had been locked inside an overcrowded penitentiary where most inmates had never been charged or convicted, according to an internal Honduran government report.
More than half of the 856 inmates of the Comayagua farm prison were either awaiting trial or being held as suspected gang members, according to a report sent by the Honduran government this month to the United Nations and seen by Associated Press.
A fire started by an inmate tore through the prison on Tuesday night, burning and suffocating men in their locked cells as rescuers searched for keys. It was the world's deadliest prison fire in a century.
Survivors told of climbing walls to break the sheet metal roofing and escape, only to see prisoners in other cell blocks being burned alive. Others burned to death on the roof.
According to the report, on any given day there were about 800 inmates in a facility built for 500. There were 51 guards by day and 12 at night when the fire happened.
The prison had no medical or mental healthcare and the budget allowed less than $1 per day per prisoner for food. Prisoners can be imprisoned under the strict Honduran anti-gang laws simply for having a tattoo
The Honduran national prison system director, Danilo Orellana, declined to comment on the supervision or the crowded conditions. The president, Porfirio Lobo, has suspended Orellana and other top prison officials.
The fire burned through six barracks, each holding between 70 and 105 inmates in four levels of bunk beds.
Bodies were found piled up in the bathrooms, where inmates apparently fled to the showers, hoping the water would save them. Some were found in baths and laundry sinks.
The inmate who started the fire gave warning, phoning the state governor and screaming he was going to burn the place down. The man, who has not been named, lit a mattress a few minutes later. Fire crews said they rushed to the prison, arriving two minutes after a call for help because the fire station was nearby. But the handful of guards held them out for 30 minutes, saying they thought the screams were a prison break and a riot. Rescuers said that when they were finally allowed in they could not find keys or guards to unlock the barracks.
On Thursday morning officials continued their investigation at the prison. "Conditions at Comayagua? I'd have to say among the worst in Honduras," said Ron Nikkel, president of Prison Fellowship International who visited the facility in 2005. "It was very congested, there's not enough food, it's dangerous and dirty."
The US state department has criticised the Honduran government for harsh prison conditions, citing severe overcrowding, malnutrition and lack of adequate sanitation.
"The ready access of prisoners to weapons and other contraband, impunity for inmate attacks against non-violent prisoners, inmate escapes, and threats by inmates and their associates outside prisons against prison officials and their families contributed to an unstable and dangerous penitentiary system environment," says the most recent state department report on human rights in Honduras. "There were reports that prisoners were tortured or otherwise abused in, or on their way to, prisons and other detention facilities."
Human rights groups and the US government say inmates with mental illnesses, as well as those with tuberculosis and other infectious diseases, are routinely held among the general prison population.
RIPEBREDFRUIT wrote:now why this coulnd not have happened during the SOE in trinidad when ALL of those "INNOCENT gang members were in prison"
then we would be a MUCH better country
Habit7 wrote:RIPEBREDFRUIT wrote:now why this coulnd not have happened during the SOE in trinidad when ALL of those "INNOCENT gang members were in prison"
then we would be a MUCH better country
I perceive you to be 13 year old child with an internet talk nah attitude who parrots your parents racist and classist statements.
Habit7 wrote:well if you are 12 then you are late for school, unless you using your gov't laptop.
but allow me to throw up unproven accusations, since you believe all minorities in Trinidad should go back where they come from.
Habit7 wrote:BrotherHood wrote:Habit7 wrote:As much as some might want to rejoice over this, imagine yourself in jail wrongfully, or for a petty crime or some other legal issue, and you get the ultimate punishment to burn to death...
IMO, once convicted, you are guilty. I highly doubt someone serves time in prison wrongfully.
...says a man who yet to be falsely accused of rape by a woman after you just had consensual sex
RIPEBREDFRUIT wrote:Habit7 wrote:well if you are 12 then you are late for school, unless you using your gov't laptop.
but allow me to throw up unproven accusations, since you believe all minorities in Trinidad should go back where they come from.
fcuk, then my white a$$ getting sent back to Caucasia !
..let me see if i could remember which one i falloff fromReturn to “Ole talk and more Ole talk”
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