As many as 300 killed in Honduras prison fire

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) - A fire started by an inmate tore through an overcrowded prison in Honduras, burning and suffocating screaming men in their locked cells as rescuers desperately searched for keys. As many as 300 people were killed in the world's deadliest prison fire in eight decades.

The local governor, who was once a prison employee, told reporters Wednesday 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. But firefighters said they were kept outside for half an hour by guards who fired their guns in the air, thinking they had a riot or a breakout on their hands.

Officials have long had little control over conditions inside many Honduran prisons, where inmates have largely unfettered access to cell phones and other contraband.

Survivors told investigators the unidentified inmate yelled "We will all die here!" as he lit fire to his bedding late Tuesday night in the prison in the central town of Comayagua, north of the capital of Tegucigalpa. The lockup housed people convicted of serious crimes such as homicide and armed robbery.

The blaze spread within minutes, killing about 100 inmates in their cells as firefighters struggled to find officials who had keys, Comayagua fire department spokesman Josue Garcia said.

"We couldn't get them out because we didn't have the keys and couldn't find the guards who had them," Garcia said.

Other prisoners were set free by guards but died from the flames or smoke as they tried to flee into the fields surrounding the facility, where prisoners grew corn and beans on a state-run farm.

Rescuers carried shirtless, semiconscious prisoners from the facility by their arms and legs. One hauled a victim away by piggyback.

Comayagua, which houses members of the nation's largest gangs, was built in the 1940s for 400 inmates, but its population had more than doubled to 852, with only 100 guards to maintain order. Unlike U.S. prisons, where locks can be released automatically in an emergency, Honduran prisons are infamous for being old, overcrowded hotbeds of conflict and crime.

Survivor Ever Lopez, 24, who was serving time for homicide, said he was sleeping when the fire broke out about 11 p.m.

"I saw the smoke from cell block 6 and it spread throughout the prison," he said. "The other prisoners and I broke through the roof with our bare hands and fled. Thank God I'm alive."

Officials said 272 people were confirmed dead, but many prisoners were unaccounted for and the death toll could go to 300 or more. Among the dead were six prisoners who drowned after trying to seek refuge in a water tank. There were 852 people in the prison at the time of the blaze.

A prisoner identified as Silverio Aguilar told HRN Radio that he first knew something was wrong when he heard a scream of "Fire! Fire!"

"For a while, nobody listened. But after a few minutes, which seemed like an eternity, a guard appeared with keys and let us out," he said.

He said there were 60 prisoners packed into his cell.

National prison system director Danilo Orellana defended the guards' decision to keep firefighters out as flames lit up the night sky.

"The guards first thought they had a prison break, so they followed the law saying no one could enter to prevent unnecessary deaths," he said.

Tuesday's blaze was the world's deadliest prison fire since 1930, when 322 prisoners were killed in Ohio.