• Honduras prison fire victims heal, grieve, seek answers

    Estbean Felix / AP

    Two men prepare graves for their family members; inmates Renan and Jose Martinez, who died in a prison fire this week, in Comayagua, Honduras on Feb. 17.

    Honduras came under international pressure on Friday to fix its broken prison system and allow an independent inquiry into a jailhouse blaze that occurred in Comayagua this week that killed more than 350 inmates, many burned alive in their cells.

    The blaze, the third major prison fire in Honduras in the last decade, has ramped up scrutiny of the Central American nation's corrupt judicial system. Almost half the inmates in its overcrowded jails have not been convicted and are awaiting trial, according to data from the Supreme Court of Honduras.

    Prison guards used cell phones to take pictures of surviving inmates to show them to relatives who turned up asking to see their loved ones. But some were still left without answers.

    -- Reuters contributed to this blog post

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    Estbean Felix / AP

    A prison inmate being treated for injuries sustained in the Comayagua, Honduras prison fire, looks out a hospital window on Feb. 17.

    Jorge Dan Lopez / Reuters

    Felix Canales reacts in front of the coffin of his friend Oswaldo Ortega Varela, 28, who died in the Feb. 14 Comayagua prison blaze on Feb. 17.

  • Estbean Felix / AP

    Relatives of inmates that survived last Tuesday's prison fire react as they stand behind a fence waiting to see their relatives outside the prison in Comayagua, Honduras, Feb. 16. A fire started by an inmate tore through the prison Tuesday night, killing more than 300 people.

    Relatives of Honduras prison fire still waiting for answers

    Most relatives said they didn't believe the authorities' account that a prisoner set a mattress on fire late Feb. 14 after threatening to burn down Comayagua prison, located 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

    The fire is the deadliest prison blaze in a century and has exposed just how deep government dysfunction and confusion go in Honduras, a small Central American country with the world's highest murder rate.

    --The Associated Press contributed to this blog post.

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  • Hundreds of inmates dead after fire in Honduras prison

    Orlando Sierra / AFP - Getty Images

    Relatives of inmates await outside the National Prison of Comayagua compound in Comayagua, Honduras, on Feb. 15, where at least 357 prisioners were killed and scores injured when fire overnight tore through the prison in central Honduras, the Central American country's prisons director said. The prison originally held around 850 prisoners.

    Reuters

    An injured man is attended to at Escuela hospital in the capital Tegucigalpa on Feb. 15, after a blaze that began late on Tuesday night at a prison in Comayagua, about 75 kilometers (45 miles) north of the capital. A fire that swept through a prison in Honduras overnight has killed at least 357 people, the attorney general's office of the Central American nation said on Wednesday.

    Gustavo Amador / EPA

    Injured inmates are being evacuated after a fire broke out at a prision in the town of Comayagua, Honduras.

    Gustavo Amador / EPA

    Firemen work at the site after a fire that broke out at a prison in the town of Comayagua, Honduras on Feb. 15. Many of the prisoners were trapped in their cells as the building burned around, according to officials.

    Orlando Sierra / AFP - Getty Images

    Relatives of inmates awaiting outside the perimeter fence throw stones at soldiers on guard at the National Prison compound in Comayagua, Honduras, on Feb. 15,

    Fernando Antonio / AP

    Inmates' relatives clash with police outside a prison after a deadly fire in Comayagua, Honduras, 90 miles (140 kilometers) north of the capital, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on Feb. 15. At least 300 inmates were killed and 21 are injured, according to authorities.

     From msnbc.com staff and news services:

     TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- A massive fire swept through a prison in Honduras and killed close to 360 people, including many inmates trapped inside their cells, officials said on Wednesday.

    Reuters reported that the attorney general's office said at least 357 people died in the blaze that began late on Tuesday night at the prison in Comayagua, about 45 miles north of the capital Tegucigalpa.Soldiers, police and anxious relatives surrounded the Comayagua prison, which housed more than 800 inmates -- well above its capacity. Click here to read more on the story as authorities try to determine the cause of the fire in Honduras.

    Over 300 people have died in a massive blaze at a prison in Honduras. Msnbc.com's Alex Witt reports.