A spokesperson from the public prosecutors’ office said yesterday that a reported prison riot in a Honduran women’s prison had killed at least 41 people.

The Centro Femenino de Adaptacion Social, a women’s penitentiary with 900 inmates about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the capital city Tegucigalpa, was the scene of the violence, spokesperson Yuri Mora told Reuters. He said some of the victims had burns, while others had gunshot wounds.

According to Delma Ordonez, the president of an association for prisoners’ families, a fight erupted at the prison in the early hours of yesterday between members of rival gangs Barrio 18 and the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). Local media said there had been a riot.

Mora said the government could not verify the details of what happened.

Local media showed images of black smoke rising from a prison building.

Relatives of the inmates gathered outside the prison later Tuesday to find out about their loved ones.

“I’m looking for information about what happened to my daughter, but they still haven’t informed us,” a woman who identified herself as Ligia Rodriguez said in a television interview.

A hospital spokesperson, who asked for anonymity, said that seven people were being treated in a state hospital.

Honduras has a history of deadly prison incidents, with 18 inmates reportedly killed in a gang fight in a penitentiary in 2019, and over 350 dying in a fire in 2012.