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Worst Prison Fire for a Century
22 February 2012
A fire started by an inmate tore through a severely overcrowded Honduran prison, burning and suffocating inmates in their locked cells and killing as many as 356 people in one of the world's deadliest prison fires in a century.
According to survivors’ statements, an unidentified inmate screamed: “We will all die here!" as he set fire to his bedding in the prison in the central town of Comayagua. The lock-up housed people convicted of serious crimes such as homicide and armed robbery. Built in the 1940s to house 400 inmates, at the time of the fire more than 800 prisoners were incarcerated, watched over by about 100 prison guards.
The blaze spread within minutes, killing around 100 inmates trapped in their cells, while firefighters struggled to find officials who had keys.