Venezuela Prison Fire Killed At Least 68

Victims of the devastating incident were pictured with their skin peeling off

At least 68 prisoners are dead and two officers have been injured after devastating police station riots and fires broke out, it has been reported by local media outlets.

Furious locals demanded answers from desperate officers who used tear gas to disperse a crowd of screaming men and women outside the police station in Valencia, Venezuela.

Venezuelan citizens issued desperate pleas for information as they worried about the condition of their loved ones while being met by officers in riot gear blocking their path.

One local cried: “I don’t know if my son is dead or alive!.

“They haven’t told me anything.”

A prosecutor in charge reported that 68 male prisoners have died, while two police officers have been wounded in the incident.

It is believed that the riot started after a Venezuelan officer was shot in the leg by an armed detainee, according to ‘A Window to Freedom’, a group that monitors the conditions inside Venezuela prisons.

Flames soon sparked and begun to spread, the mattresses in cells helped to spread the fire.

Some prisoners are understood to have been freed after rescue operatives made a hole in one of the prison walls.

Carlos Nieto Palma, the director of the nonprofit group, labelled the event “grave and alarming”.

Venezuela has a history of corruption with some guards allowing for guns and drugs to be distributed through prisons more easily.

The independent Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons has repeatedly condemned prison overcrowding in the country, as well as inmates' inadequate living conditions.


(EXPRESS)




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