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Honduras prison fire 'leaves dozens dead' | Honduras prison fire 'leaves dozens dead' |
(40 minutes later) | |
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. | 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. |