Fire in Honduras kills over 100 prisoners

A huge fire at a prison in northern Honduras killed at least 100 inmates yesterday, all of them members of a violent street gang the government is trying to break up.

Police spokesman Wilmer Torres said the early-morning fire at the prison in the northern city of San Pedro Sula followed an explosion that was apparently caused by a short circuit.

Most of the victims died from suffocation and another 27 were taken to the hospital with burns.

It was the worst jail disaster in Honduras and the second time that dozens of gang members have been killed inside a Honduran prison in a little over a year. Some inmates complained that security forces were slow to help yesterday and some family members suspected it was no accident.

"We are investigating this very carefully to determine the precise causes," Mr Torres told Reuters.

He said all of the dead were members of the "Mara Salvatrucha", one of two dominant street gangs that operate in this Central American country. The gangs have been the target of a major crackdown in which more than 1,000 suspected gang members have been arrested and sent to jail since last August.