Tegucigalpa. At least 13 people were killed Thursday in a fire at a prison in Honduras, officials said -- less than two months after a deadly prison blaze killed more than 350, AFP informs.
"There are 13 bodies. We have not yet been able to identify the circumstances of the incident" at the San Pedro Sula prison in the north of the country, said Marleny Vanegas of the city prosecutor's office.
"We will have to await the results of the investigation."
Earlier, police spokesman Walter Amaya had put the death toll at one. Officials said the fire was rapidly brought under control.
Security Minister Pompeyo Bonilla said the fire at the facility -- which was built for 800 inmates but which currently has 2,250 -- had "once again highlighted the critical situation" in the country's prisons.
A horrific fire erupted on February 14 at a prison in Comayagua, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) north of the capital Tegucigalpa.
The incident, in which 361 people were killed, was one of the world's deadliest prison blazes, and highlighted the problem of overcrowding in Latin American jails.
Agents from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) concluded that the fire was accidental, but the US ambassador to Honduras also said official negligence was to blame, due to overcrowding at the facility.
Fri 30 March 2012
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