At least 41 women were killed in a riot at a women’s prison in Honduras on Tuesday – with most burnt to death.
President Xiomara Castro blamed the violence on “mara” street gangs that often wield power inside prisons.
Twenty-six of the victims were burnt to death while the remainder were shot or stabbed at the prison in Tamara, about 50km north-west of the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, said national police investigation agency spokesman Yuri Mora.
Relatives awaiting news about inmates gathered outside the morgue in Tegucigalpa. They confirmed that inmates in the prison had told them they lived in fear of the Barrio 18 gang.
It is the worst tragedy at a Central American detention centre for women since 2017, when girls at a shelter for troubled youths in Guatemala set fire to mattresses to protest against rapes and other mistreatment at the overcrowded institution. The smoke and fire killed 41 girls.