At least 200 killed in Honduras prison fire

At least 200 inmates were killed and dozens injured when fire tore through a prison in central Honduras, the Central American country's prisons director said on Wednesday. "We are pulling out bodies, and we have reached 200. The situation is serious. Most have suffocated," prisons director Danilo Orellana said, adding that the fire did not appear to have been caused by a riot. Initial reports say as many as 270 people may have been killed in the blaze and at least 40 others injured. "In the cells there are more than 100 charred bodies," the fire department spokesman told Reuters, adding that there were reports of shooting inside the jail late on Tuesday (local time), when the fire was believed to have started. Dozens of inmates are believed to have escaped by climbing out of the roof of the prison. The prison is in the town of Comayagua, about 75 kilometres north of the capital Tegucigalpa, and held around 800 inmates.