Prison fire exposes chaos in Honduras

Associated Press

COMAYAGUA, Honduras

Six guards, 800-plus prisoners in 10 cellblocks, one set of keys. The numbers added up to disaster when fire tore through a prison and 355 people died, many yet to even be charged with a crime, much less convicted.

The deadliest prison blaze in a century has exposed just how deep government dysfunction and confusion go in Honduras, a small Central American country with the world’s highest murder rate.

Prisoners’ scorched bodies were being brought to the capital of Tegucigalpa on Thursday for identification, a process authorities said could take weeks. Dozens of family members gathered outside the morgue wearing surgical masks against the strong smell of death as police called out the names of the few less-charred victims who had been identified.

Most relatives said they didn’t believe the authorities’ account that a prisoner set a mattress on fire late Tuesday after threatening to burn down Comayagua prison, 55 miles north of Tegucigalpa.

They also faulted prison officials for failing to get help inside quickly as flames engulfed the facility.

Hundreds of screaming men burned and suffocated inside their locked cells as rescuers desperately searched for keys.

From the time firefighters received a call at 10:59 p.m., the rescue was marred by human error and conditions inside the prison that led to catastrophe.