Trapped inmates were screaming from their cells as a fire blazed through a Honduran prison, killing at least 300 inmates, authorities said Wednesday.

Chief of forensic medicine for the prosecutor’s office, Lucy Marder, stateed early Wednesday that around 356 people on the prison roster are not accounted for among 852 prisoners.

She said the majority could be dead, though others may have endured burns, escaped or survived.

The fire erupted Tuesday night at a prison in Comayagua, a town 90 miles north of the Central American country’s capital, Tegucigalpa.

Comayagua fire department spokesman Josue Garcia gave a description of the blaze as “hellish,” revealing how he saw “horrific” scenes while attempting to put out the fire, stating that inmates rioted trying to escape. He stated that “some 100 prisoners were burned to death or suffocated in their cells.”

Garcia said they could not get them out because they didn’t have the keys and couldn’t find the guards who had them.

Officials are investigating whether the fire was started by rioting prisoners or by an electrical short-circuit, stated Danilo Orellana, head of the national prison system.

A prisoner identified as Silverio Aguilar revealed to HRN Radio that someone began screaming, “Fire, fire,” and the prisoners were calling for help.

He said for a while, nobody was listening. But after a few minutes, which seemed like an forever, a guard showed up with keys and let them out.

Hundreds of relatives flocked to Santa Teresa Hospital in Comayagua state to discover the fate of their loved ones, said Leonel Silva, fire chief in Comayagua.

Marder stated that twelve victims were treated there and 9 more in the Hospital Escuela in Tegucigalpa, totally 21 injured. She said that’s why they believe the death toll will rise.

Marder stated that DNA tests will be required to identify victims, some burned beyond recognition. It would take at least 3 months to identify them all.

President Porfirio Lobo declared an emergency in July 2010 in 9 of the 24 prisons in Honduras. His security minister at the time dubbed the prisons “universities of crime” that had been overwhelmed by overcrowding.

**********************************************

The Views and Opinions Expressed by the author are his or her opinions only and do not necessarily reflect those of this Web-Site or its agents, affiliates, officers, directors, staff, or contractors. The author at the time of this article did not own any shares or receive any consideration financial or otherwise from any company or person mentioned or referred to in the article.