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Chile's worst prison fire kills 81 inmates

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-12-08 22:01

SANTIAGO  - Fire engulfed a prison in the Chilean capital early on Wednesday, killing 81 inmates and critically injuring 14 others, prison officials said, in the worst-ever accident in the country's jail system.

Officials said the fire was triggered during an early-morning fight between inmates in one of the crowded prison's five towers. Television footage showed part of the San Miguel prison in flames, black smoke billowing from the building.

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Frantic relatives of the inmates flooded to the jail's walls, screaming and imploring police to let them in to rescue their loved ones. Some threw rocks at police inside the prison perimeter in frustration.

"There are 81 dead, and we hope that figure won't rise," said Luis Masferrer, director of the national prison system. "This reflects the precarious state of Chile's prison system, which we have been denouncing and working to rectify since we took over (in March)."

"Overcrowding is a factor that will have to be analyzed in determining the causes of this terrible incident," he added.

Justice Minister Felipe Bulnes said the prison housed 1,960 inmates, nearly twice the 1,100 inmate capacity.

Radio station Bio Bio reported that around 200 inmates had to be evacuated into a jail yard due to the fire.

Anxious relatives climbed onto the prison fence, their arms outstretched toward the burning building.

"Rusio Victor, wave a white T-shirt daddy," shouted 7-year-old Yadira Lopez, appealing to her father to signal he was alive.

(With reporting by Antonio de la Jara and Alonso Soto. Writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by Eric Beech)