Fire races through police station killing 68 prisoners

A fast-moving fire has swept through a Venezuelan police station where prisoners were being kept in crowded cells, killing 68 people in one of the worst catastrophes involving the nation’s prison system.

Distraught families clamoured for information and at times clashing with police equipped in riot gear outside the station until Venezuela’s chief prosecutor declared on Twitter that 66 men and two women had been killed in the blaze.

Prosecutor Tarek William Saab said four prosecutors had been named to determine what happened and who is responsible for the tragedy in Valencia, a town in Carabobo state 100 miles west of Caracas, the capital.

He added the nation’s public ministry would “guarantee a thorough investigation to immediately shed light on the painful events that have put dozens of Venezuelan families in mourning”.

0 Distraught family members outside a police station in Valencia in Venezuela after a fire engulfed police cells, killing 68 people