At least 2 prisoners killed and 6 injured after inmates start fire in Uruguay prison

Montevideo: At least 2 inmates were killed and six injured after a massive fire broke out in a prison in Uruguay. According to Xinhua, the prisoners of Uruguay's Comcar prison started the fire on Thursday. A day after the incident, the country's interior ministry noted that the fire broke out when inmates threw flammable liquid through a window of the cell. Luis Mendoza, director of the National Rehabilitation Institute rejected the theory that it was a “riot” and called it a “specific incident”. 

The Uruguayan official also confirmed that the bodies of the deceased were found in the cell that comprised eight other inmates. Mendoza made it clear that the injured cellmates were hospitalised and four out of the six people were suffering from serious burns. According to Xinhua, Comcar houses 4,900 inmates which is almost a third of the country's prison population. Overcrowding of prison cells and rising prison violence are some of the key issues Uruguay is currently dealing with. 

Not the first time

In July this year, 12 prisoners died after a fire broke out inside a penitentiary in Uruguay. The attack also left eight inmates injured in the blaze that ripped through a prison cell in the city of Rocha, about 130 miles (210 km) east of the country's capital, Montevideo.  “We've practically ruled out the possibility that this was an intentional blaze. Initial information tells us it may have been started by a short-circuit or by a piece of clothing catching fire on one of the heaters,” Deputy Police Chief Celso Sosa said at the time of the incident. Hence, in light of such incidents, The Interior Ministry announced that they will be creating 4,000 prison spots by the end of the current government in 2025.