KABUL: (MEP) A prison riot in Guatemala’s eastern state of Izabal has left at least eight inmates dead, officials said.
The incident occurred on Friday after violence broke out at the facility in the port city of Puerto Barrios, Guatemalan Interior Minister Eunice Mendizabal said.
It started after an altercation between two prisoners turned into a battle between rival gangs there.
“At least 24 other inmates were wounded during the riot” The state penitentiary service posted on its Twitter account.
The service posted photos showing holes in the walls of the jail and said the riot seemed “to have originated with an escape plan that authorities managed to thwart.”
Meanwhile, Prosecutor’s spokeswoman Yesenia Enriquez said two of the victims were decapitated and two other burned.
She said none of the prisoners have been identified.
Reports also say the rioters set fire to mattresses and bed sheets and cut power in the facility.
