Honduran prison fire kills 358

Deadliest such blaze in century; facility was at double capacity

COMAYAGUA, Honduras — A fire started by an inmate tore through an overcrowded prison in Honduras, burning and suffocating screaming men in their locked cells as rescuers searched desperately for keys.

Officials confirmed 358 dead Wednesday, making it the world’s deadliest prison fire in a century.

The local governor, who was once a prison employee, told reporters that an inmate called her moments before the blaze broke out and screamed: “I will set this place on fire and we are all going to die!”

Comayagua Gov. Paola Castro said she called the Red Cross and fire brigade immediately after receiving the call late Tuesday night. But firefighters said they were kept outside for 30 minutes by guards who fired their guns in the air, thinking a riot or breakout was under way.

Officials have long had little control over conditions in many Honduran prisons, where inmates have easy access to cellphones and other contraband.

Survivors told investigators the unidentified inmate set fire to his bedding in the farm prison in the central town of Comayagua, 53 miles north of Tegucigalpa. The lockup housed people con- victed of serious crimes, but also those who had yet to be tried.

The blaze spread within minutes, killing inmates in their locked barracks.

“We couldn’t get them out because we didn’t have the keys and couldn’t find the guards who had them,” Comayagua fire department spokesman Josue Garcia said.

With 856 prisoners, the prison was at double capacity, said Supreme Court Justice Richard Ordonez, who is leading the investigation. Only 12 guards were on duty when the fire broke out, said state prosecutor German Enamorado.

Ordonez told The Associated Press the fire started in a barracks with 105 prisoners, and only four survived.

Other prisoners were set free by guards but died from the flames or smoke as they tried to f lee into the fields sur- rounding the facility.

Survivors told grim tales of climbing walls to break the sheet metal roofing and escape, only to see prisoners in other cell blocks being burned alive.

“I only saw flames, and when we got out, they were being burned, up against the bars, they were stuck to them,” said Eladio Chicas, 40, who was in his 15th year of a 39-year sentence.

“It was something horrible,” he said as he was led away by police, handcuffed, to testify before a local court about what he saw. “This is a nightmare.”

Ordonez said bodies were found piled up in prison bathrooms, where inmates apparently fled to turn on the showers and hope the water would save them. Instead, their bodies were found stacked like cordwood, burnt to cinders.