Honduras prison fire "leaves dozens dead"
Honduras, Feb. 15, 2012
A fire has swept through a prison in Honduras, leaving dozens of inmates dead and others injured, officials say.
A firefighters' spokesman said more than 100 people may have perished at the jail in Comayagua, in central Honduras.
Some prisoners escaped the blaze by breaking through the roof to jump from the building, their relatives said.
It is suspected the fire was caused either by an electrical fault or deliberately started by inmates.
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, local media reported.
The prison in Comayagua, some 100km (60 miles) north of the capital, Tegucigalpa, was holding more than 800 inmates.
It was feared many of them had fled in the chaos, officials said.
Local hospitals were treating dozens of people for burns and other injuries, firefighters' spokesman Josue Garcia told the Spanish news agency Efe.
Some of the injured have been taken to Tegucigalpa for treatment, among them 30 people with severe burns.
Hector Ivan Mejia, from the government's security secretariat, told reporters that it appeared an electrical short-circuit had caused the fire.
But Honduras media also carried reports that there had been a riot in the prison.
Source: BBC
