18 dead in a confrontation in a prison in Honduras

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Clashes in jail in Honduras. Credit: STR / AFP via Getty Images

(CNN Spanish) - At least 18 incarcerated dead and 16 wounded is the count as a result of a confrontation between inmates in a prison in the city of Tela, in northern Honduras recorded Friday, José Coello told CNN, spokesman for the National Interagency Force (FUSINA).

Coello reported that the fight took place in the middle of a celebration between the inmates inside the prison, when suddenly “gunshots” were heard. The reasons for the celebration are unknown.

According to the FUSINA spokesperson, it is in the process of investigation to find the causes and the groups of inmates who participated in this incident registered in the prison ”.

The injured were taken to a hospital in the city of Tela.

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Among the 18 inmates killed with firearms 17 lost their lives in the prison and one died in the hospital in the city of Tela minutes after being admitted, according to the military spokesman.

The deceased, according to José Coello, are transferred this Saturday to the morgue of forensic medicine in the city of San Pedro Sula to begin the identification process and deliver the bodies to their families.

On Saturday, December 14 of this year, five members of the MS-13 mara were killed by several bullet strikes by one of their colleagues in the maximum security prison "La Tolva", in the municipality of Moroceli, in the department from El Paraíso, Honduras.

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On Tuesday, December 17, the Honduran government approved an emergency decree for prisons and appointed an intervention commission composed of the Armed Forces and the National Police to take over the security and administration of the 24 penal centers in the Central American country .

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