The apparent prison riot broke out Tuesay at the Centro Femenino de Adaptacion Social, a women’s penitentiary outside the capital city Tegucigalpa, and there are fears the death toll will rise.
Mora said the death toll could increase as rescue teams continue to work, adding that some of the deaths were the result of burns while others had gunshot wounds.
The main assistance center in Tegucigalpa has received several injured people, he said
A brawl is believed to have broken out in the prison in the early hours of Tuesday between rival gangs Barrio 18 and the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Delma Ordonez, the president of an association for prisoners’ families, told Reuters.
The country has a history of incidents at its prisons – criticized for being overcrowded places with poor conditions amid an increase of organized crime Some 63 people died in a prison riot in 2003, and more than 300 people died in a prison fire in 2021.