Honduras is beginning the grim task of identifying the victims of a prison fire that killed more than 350 people.
As forensic experts worked to recover the charred corpses from the jail in Comayagua, hundreds of relatives remained desperate for news.
The Government has promised a full investigation and accepted that the entire prison system needs reform.
More than half the inmates in Comayagua were on remand or held as suspected gang members.
An internal Honduran government report sent to the United Nations detailed conditions in the Comayagua prison.
READ MORE
Hamas says 'ready for ceasefire' as Israel presses Gaza campaign
Saudi-hosted summit says Mideast peace requires end to Israeli occupation
Schools must enhance security surveillance to tame deadly fires
The report said there were some 800 prisoners in a jail built for 500, and only 51 guards by day and just 12 by night.
The air is heavy with the smell of the charred bodies and almost everyone is wearing a facemask to protect themselves from the stench.
Hundreds of soldiers and police are on hand to keep order while forensics teams appear every few minutes carrying another body bag out the front door.
As well as the dead, the survivors have been emerging too, as groups of injured men have been taken out at gunpoint to be treated.
Survivors said inmates had tried to save themselves by jumping into showers or sinks.
"I woke up with all the screaming from my fellow inmates, who were already breaking the wood and zinc ceiling," one survivor said.
Bodies are being sent to the mortuary in Tegucigalpa for formal identification. Many are so badly charred that dental records and DNA will be needed.
Minister for Public Works, Miguel Rodrigo Pastor, said the fire was started by two inmates having a fight
Families gathered at the scene in Comayagua, some 100km (60 miles) north of the capital Tegucigalpa, when news of the fire broke.
Anger grew and at one point some relatives clashed with police as they tried to force their way into the building.
Above the main entrance is the motto: "Let justice be done, though the world perish."
Relatives could not agree with that sentiment more, says BBC Mondo’s Ignacio de los Reyes who is in Comayagua.
"They all sleep in there like piglets... all stacked up on bunk beds. I used to joke with my son that one day he’d hit the roof and be able to escape, and that’s exactly what he had to do," the mother of one survivor said. Firefighters said they could not get the prisoners out because they could not find the guards who had the keys to the cells.
President Porfirio Lobo has pledged a "full and transparent" investigation. – BBC
