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| Inmates say prison fire that killed 103 'intentional' |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 05/24/2004 |
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Survivors of a Honduras prison fire that officials blamed on a short-circuit claimed today that the inferno that killed more than 100 gang members was intentionally set by fellow inmates. A similar fire that broke out a year ago during clashes at the nearby La Ceiba prison killed 70 gang members. As in last week's fire, last year's blaze burned only a cellblock housing the gangs. Most of those killed were members of the feared Mara Salvatrucha 13 gang, characterized by tattoos of saints, skulls, daggers and dice. "Many of the guys who died in there were in jail just because they had tattoos," said gang member Olmon Alberto Contreras, 18, who lay in a hospital bed with severe burns. At least 103 of 186 prisoners in the cell block - the only one of 18 at the prison to burn - died in the blaze at the state prison in San Pedro Sula, 180 kilometres north of the capital, Tegucigalpa. Some were burned to death; others died from smoke inhalation. The death toll was expected to rise as many of the survivors lay in hospital beds with burns over as much as half their bodies. The government acknowledged overcrowding and poor conditions in Honduras jail cells and promised to provide more funding. But some survivors alleged that other inmates set the fire by throwing gasoline into their cell block and lighting the fuel, while officials stood by and did nothing. The gang members say the officers' apathy was part of a government strategy of elimination that began with last year's federal anti-gang law. Government authorities deny they are out to exterminate the gangs but say tough action is necessary to control an increasingly violent force blamed for everything from common crimes to grisly homicides. |
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