Honduras mourns after prison fire kills over 350

17.02.2012

Honduras on Thursday mourned the more than 350 people who died when fire swept through an overcrowded prison in the Central American country, leaving charred bodies trapped in locked cells. Survivors described wrenching scenes of prisoners engulfed by smoke and flames pleading for help, some unable to flee because they were shackled to the bars of their cells in what is the world's worst prison fire in a decade.

Those who were able "tried to save themselves by hurling themselves into the shower, sinks" and any other source of water they could find, one survivor said, while others escaped by jumping from the prison rooftop.

There were reports that others fled the crowded facility in the central Honduran city of Comayagua and were on the loose. Honduras -- like much of Central America -- has been gripped by drug violence in recent years.

Most of the prison fire deaths were caused by smoke inhalation.

"More than 350 dead, it is an approximation. We cannot rule out that it could be a bit higher, but we are checking so we can give an official and precise toll for this tragedy," Security Minister Pompeyo Bonilla said.