TEGUCIGALPA — At least 41 inmates at a Honduran prison died Tuesday in a brawl inside the country’s main women’s prison, north of the Honduran capital.
The Honduran government declared the prison an emergency to mobilize forces and try to control the riot.
The incident took place in the morning at the National Women’s Penitentiary for Social Adaptation (PNFAS), located in the Támara Valley, where firearm detonations were heard and a fire broke out where several of the inmates burned to death.
“The forensic teams that are carrying out the cadaveric surveys confirm that there are 41 deaths that are counted,” the director of communications for the Public Ministry, Yuri Mora, confirmed to The Associated Press.
The resident coordinator of the United Nations in Honduras, Alice Shackelford, expressed on Tuesday a “strong rejection of violence” after the tragedy.
“My solidarity with the women in the Penitentiary Center in Támara and my strong rejection of violence,” Shackelford stressed in a message on Twitter.
He added that “my heart cries and I share the mourning with their families” for the women who died in the fight and the fire that, according to relatives of the victims, allegedly occurred after the authorities notified new rules inside the prison.
The preliminary number of deaths was confirmed by the spokesman for the Public Ministry, Yuri Mora, who indicated that most of the people were burned to death and that the final number will be known until the removal of the bodies is completed.
At least seven women who were injured in the brawl receive medical attention at the Tegucigalpa School Hospital, without the authorities specifying the severity of the injuries.
