Archive for the ‘Americas’ Category
Honduran authorities say a massive fire has consumed a market in the capital.
Officials say hundreds of vendor stalls were destroyed in the blaze that started Saturday afternoon in Tegucigalpa. No deaths have been reported.
One local business owner said the fire spread quickly.
“It was like a bomb, the fire was almost over all of us. It was when we were opened to start selling, at about noon or so. It ignited and it quickly spread, that’s what happens here when it happens. The flames sweep everything away.”
Last week, a fire swept through a prison in the Honduran town of Comayagua, north of the capital. More than 350 inmates were killed.
Officials in Honduras say the massive fire that killed at least 358 inmates at an overcrowded prison was started by an inmate.
The blaze, one of the world’s deadliest prison fires in history, took place at the farm prison in the town of Comayugua, located north of the capital of Tegucigalpa. Many of the victims suffocated in their cells or burned to death.
Comayugua Governor Paola Castro says she received a phone call from an inmate late Tuesday night, telling her that another inmate had set fire to a mattress.
Many survivors managed to escape by breaking through the prison’s sheet metal roofing. Prison guards fired their guns in the air as the prisoners escaped the blaze, believing they had a riot on their hands.
“They [the guards] were outside and instead of letting them [the inmates] out, they wanted to stop them and kept them inside,” said Heriberto Rivas, Comayagua prison inmate who survived the fire. I don’t know what their reasons were but thank God I am alive and I’ll carry on.”
Honduran President Porfirio Lobo announced during a nationally televised address Wednesday that he has suspended the director of the national prison system, as well as the director of the Comayugua facility.
The Comayagua prison housed some 850 prisoners, about double its capacity.
Distraught relatives surrounded the prison hours after the tragedy, desperate to learn the fate of their loved ones. Some threw rocks at police and tried to force their way into the facility. Police fired tear gas in an effort to hold back the crowd.
“They [the guards] are a disgrace because they could have opened the doors and they didn’t,” said Maria Ramirez, wife of Comayagua prison inmate who died in fire. “Instead of opening the doors they started shooting at them in the middle of the night. They only thought of them running away and not of them getting burned alive,” she said.
The Organization of American States is sending a delegation to investigate. OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza expressed “deep consternation regarding the tragic events” and expressed solidarity with the government.
Honduran prisons are notoriously overcrowded and are often the scene of riots and clashes between rival gang members. The U.S. State Department has criticized Honduras for “harsh prison conditions.” The Central American nation’s last major prison fire struck the town of San Pedro Sula in 2004, killing more than 100 prisoners.
More than 300 inmates have been killed by a fire in a Honduran prison.
The head of Honduras’ prison system, Danilo Orellana, says the fire broke out late Tuesday at a prison in the town of Comayagua, north of the capital, Tegucigalpa. He said authorities are looking into whether it was caused by prisoners or an electric short circuit.
Orellana said many of the inmates burned to death or suffocated in their cells.
The Comayagua facility housed about 850 prisoners.
Worried relatives lined up at the gates of the prison Wednesday, waiting for news about their loved ones.
Honduran prisons are notoriously overcrowded. The nation’s last major prison fire struck the town of San Pedro Sula in 2004, killing more than 100 prisoners.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.