HIGUEY, Dominican Republic - Rival gangs battling over the drug trade in an overcrowded, vermin-infested prison set their bedding ablaze and blocked the entrance to their cellblock, killing at least 134 inmates in one of Latin America's worst jailhouse blazes.
Some died in a stampede to escape the flames after guards forced open the jammed door in the cellblock known as Vietnam, one survivor said, while others were killed by smoke inhalation.
Only 26 prisoners were rescued from the jail in Higuey, 75 miles northeast of the capital on the eastern tip of the island, said national police Chief Manuel de Jesus Perez Sanchez. Eighteen were injured.
The disaster underscored the terrible prison conditions in the Dominican Republic, which has the most overcrowded jails in the Western Hemisphere, according to U.N. figures. Domingo Porfirio Rojas-Nina of the Dominican National Human Rights Commission said he has been complaining for years that the Higuey prison "is the worst in the country."
"It is hell on earth. It is unfit for human beings," he said.
Officials gave varying figures for the prison population, with one saying Vietnam cellblock held as many as 182. The confusion over the exact numbers illustrated some of the problems of the prison system.
Among the victims were four Americans from Puerto Rico convicted of cocaine trafficking. Two died and two were injured, officials said.
The violence began when one inmate shot and wounded another Sunday night and dozens of members of three gangs began fighting for control of who would sell drugs and cigarettes, said the national prison director, Gen. Ramon de la Cruz Martinez.
Guards broke up that fight, but early Monday, prisoners began rioting, setting fire to pillows and sheets and blocking the entrance, officials said.
"It's an incredible, mad thing," said chief firefighter Nestor Vera. Bodies were "piled up on top of each other" at the door, he said, apparently as the men struggled to escape.
One of the few to escape, Alexander Sanchez, said police fired tear gas before the fire began.
"When they finally opened the door, we all tried to get out but we didn't all make it, some got trampled to death," said Sanchez, 28, who has been waiting in jail two years to be tried for beating up a man in a dispute over a woman.
Scores of relatives gathered outside the jail.
"I just want to find out if he's still alive," Porfirio Rodriguez, 52, said of his son, Ramon, who was convicted of smuggling migrants to Puerto Rico.
Police directed Rodriguez to a nearby photocopy shop, where people paid nearly a dollar for the list of victims. Rodriguez bought his and walked away to read it in private. His son was listed among the dead.
The blaze will be investigated by a five-member commission, said Vice President Rafael Alburquerque, who is acting president while Leonel Fernandez is in Spain attending an antiterrorism conference.
Gang fights, escapes and riots erupt frequently at prisons across the region.
The Dominican Republic's 35 prisons were built for 9,000 prisoners but last year held more than 13,500, according to a State Department human rights report published last week.
