Argentina prison blaze kills 32 inmates

BUENOS AIRES - A fire killed 32 prisoners after battling inmates set mattresses aflame and briefly took control of an Argentine jail.

Eduardo Di Rocco, the justice minister in Buenos Aires province, denied initial local media reports that inmates had revolted to have visiting hours extended on Sunday, which is Mother's Day in Argentina.

He attributed the incident, which lasted through the night and was quelled on Sunday morning, to inmate infighting.

"It appears the 32 dead perished from carbon monoxide inhalation," Di Rocco told local television station TN, referring to the prison in Magdalena, 120km southeast of the capital of Buenos Aires.

In Argentina's third and bloodiest episode of prison violence since February, several family members said they saw corpses "piled on top of one another" when they entered the jail in the early morning hours.

"This was a total massacre," said one woman, who was anxiously waiting outside the jail along with hundreds of other family members to find out which inmates had died.

Di Rocco told reporters nine of the 32 bodies had been identified by mid-afternoon and officials were working to inform relatives.

Four prison guards suffered burns and two were injured, including the jail warden, who was in grave condition after inmates struck him in the head with a heavy object.

Smoke was seen rising from the prison compound early on Sunday but Fernando Diaz, director of the Buenos Aires province penitentiary service, said, "There is no area outside our control now."

- REUTERS