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Estbean Felix / AP
The bodies of inmates who were killed in a the deadliest prison fire in the last century were transported within the morgue in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – No one knows for sure what started the prison fire at the Comayagua prison 50 miles north of here. But everyone agrees that the hero is a convicted murderer, an inmate named Marco Antonio Bonilla.
Antonio Bonilla, who had just months left on his sentence, roamed more freely than the others and was the prison nurse. He is credited with saving hundreds of inmates on the day of the deadliest prison fire in the last century. The prison's six guards, spooked by the flames, either ran away or refused to unlock the cells -- witness accounts differ -- but Antonio Bonilla was unrelenting, even using a heavy bench to smash open a lock, according to witnesses.
The Valentine’s Day fire started late in the day and raced through five barracks at the Comayagua prison farm, burning and suffocating screaming men trapped behind locked doors.
The reasons given for how the fire started are many: An angry inmate had threatened to torch the prison; inmates had been fighting over a mattress; an inmate had fallen asleep while smoking.
Prisoners later said that the guard responsible for the keys threw them on the ground, while others said that Antonio Bonilla demanded them and started opening doors when the guard turned them over.
Inmate Jose Enrique Guevara said Antonio Bonilla used a bench to break open the lock on his cell block, No. 6, where the fire started. Enrique Guevara survived with burns.
There were 852 prisoners in the prison the night of the fire; on Tuesday, the total death toll had reached 360. Enrique Guevara's cell block was hit hard. Of the 105 prisoners crammed into rows of bunks four levels high, four survived.
Estbean Felix / AP
A forensic worker hangs a list of the names of inmates whose remains would be returned to their relatives at the morgue in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The prison fire killed 360 men.
In his weekly meeting with ministers broadcast on Channel 8, President Porfirio Lobo said he would give Antonio Bonilla a presidential pardon for his murder conviction.
"He put himself at incredible risk trying to save lives during the tragedy," Lobo said.
The United States Embassy in Honduras issued a statement saying investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms believed the fire was an accident. They found that crowding, poor safety practices and the presence of flammable materials in and around the tightly packed bunk beds caused the rapid spread of the flames.
Inmates had clothes, curtains and small electrical devices hung from their bunks. Some also had materials to light makeshift kitchen stoves, according to some of the survivors.
Honduras has experienced deadly fires in its overcrowded prisons in the past, Reuters reported.
In 2003, 68 people died inside a prison in northern Honduras when a fire broke out during a riot and investigators later found guards had killed inmates with machetes and guns on the inside. A year later, more than 100 inmates died in another prison fire in the city of San Pedro Sula.
This article includes reporting by Reuters and The Associated Press.
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Leave a Comment:
Props to him, and sucks to the guards.
This man's getting pardoned because he deserves it, not because of who he knows. Shame the US system doesn't work that way.
Heroism takes many forms. The guy had only months left on his sentence. While others ran from the fire, he ran toward it to rescue and help others. He had nothing to gain. Redemption is powerful, and it no doubt made him a better man. I hope the rest of his life is happy and peaceful.
I wonder if you 2 bleeding-heart clowns would feel that way if he murdered your daughter? Pathetic..
In a perfect world, WeRthrough, I think they would feel that way still. I don't think their sentiments are pathetic, I think you are for feeling like you had to call someone a bleeding heart clown and pathetic. Piss off.
WeRthrough - And to what extent to you think he deserves a more eternal punishment? Do you know the severity of his murder case or the circumstances by which he was convicted? If you do, then please shed some light on the matter for the rest of us. As of this point, I don't see enough to make a judgment nor throw an opinion out there. As far as you know, he could have gotten into an accident and unintentionally killed someone. Remember, this isn't the US we're discussing, it's Honduras, where the judicial system is a far cry different than that of the US.
I tend to see you post very often with malice toward the penal systems of other countries, but rarely do you take into consideration the locality and nature of the actual case itself. Perhaps you should delve into it a little more for a better understanding as opposed to saying "Oh he did something bad! We should crucify him!". Isn't always the case, sir.
Well, CommonMoron, I don't just choose to call names for no reason. The fact that you would reply the way you did shows that you are just that, a pathetic, bleeding-heart clown. So you can take yourself, and all who a like you and take a long walk off a short pier, dufus..
And you Xanol, MURDER is MURDER any way you look at it. The headlines didn't say manslaughter-which is what you are referring to. Yeah, I don't know the reason behind it, but I would be willing to bet it didn't have anything to do with him saving his mother from a would-be killer-if you get my drift. My how some of us are so blind, and seem to like it that way! Oh, and the judicial system here is actually worse. At least in other countries, you are treated like the criminal that you are no TV, internet, weight lifting, sports, fun times, can complain about the food they get, etc, even drugs! Yeah, welcome to the US, the place that has more jails than anywhere else in the world 3-fold! Wonder why we need so many... (Sarcasm) I'll tell you why and I will keep repeating myself, BLEEDING-HEARTS. The "Judicial System" or so-called is a very sore subject for me, YES.
I know precisely what I was referring too, thank you. I don't need educated in the fallacies of my post, as I was out to make a point that you obviously touched on a little too briefly. Fact of the matter is, you don't know anything concerning the past of this individual and therefore have no need to imply that you do. You think most individuals are blind huh? Quite frankly, I'd rather see the death sentence reinstated as corporal punishment to murderers, rapists, child molesters and other violent criminals, alas, that won't occur. Get over it. Has very little to do with the "bleeding hearts", has a great deal to do with the government run and operated judicial system. Sadly, it's the appeasement of the voters that the government seeks. Want someone to raise hell with? Write your congressmen or senator a letter concerning your frustration on the matter. See if he gives a damn. Your viewpoint is but a blip in the radar to these people.
Concerning the Honduran jail aspect, it sounds as if he was being treated fairly well. Despite the fact, it seems that this is a perfect example of rehabilitation. Unfortunately, not always the case with most.
" The prison's six guards, spooked by the flames, either ran away or refused to unlock the cells"
Six guards for 852 prisoners???
Minimum security prison
Also many countries typically have better prison etiquette than you'd normally find in America.
All the guards are responsible for is to control the perimeter of the prison. The inmates operate a social structure within the walls, electing bosses of cell blocks and running stores. In essence...the prisoners are running the prison. Of course the guards are supposed to act in a case like this. They were probably worried a prisoner who resented them would murder them while their back was turned helping and through them into the fire to destroy the evidence. It's a tough life there.
This guy risked his own life after coming so close to serving his time. He deserves the reward. It's pretty obvious he's shown he has compassion for mankind by doing this. I'll still bet the family of whom ever he murdered doesn't agree but that's life!
I'm no expert, I just watched a special on TV about Honduras and Peruvian prisons and how they operate.
We have triple that amount of guards just for when Lindsay Lohan goes to court.
Yes, and that is why it costs 30 grand a year to keep someone behind bars in US. US should start leasing their convicts to Chinese sweatshops and make money in the process.
It would seem that guards failed to do their duty and help save those who could have been saved, they should face charges for the deaths of prisoners that should not have died.
Amazing story. Never beyond redemtion.
Praise for his heroic act. Thanks for the critical moment that he turned back and was willing to save life. He could have done thing the other way; but he chose to continually rescue the others.
Thanks. He has done the right thing, Good Samaritan act.
Great to see humanity triumph over cowardliness and malice some times.... he made those guards look like weak a holes
Just one more reason that you DO NOT want to go to prison in Honduras. There are now a total of 473 reasons you do not want to go to prison in Honduras.
Anyone who would risk their life like that is not all bad. The murder they say he did, do they know all the circumstances?
I bet it wasn't sadistic or anything. He may have deserved the sentence at the time, but he clearly wasn't beyond redemption.
haha
From murderer to hero. Society has a fickle sense of good and evil. One day you are considered the scum of the earth, the next you are revered as a hero.
one word .."Bravery"
The first thing I thought of when reading the headline is that Haley's at it again. Whew!
The story said he "had just months left on his sentence".... for MURDER? How does one get such a short prison sentence for murder?
Have we degregated our society to the point where life is so generic that we only get a few years of free room and board for taking another persons life?
Not only does the story not include the circumstances of the murder, it also does not say how much time he already has served. Absent both of those details, your indignation is a little over the top. For all we know he was wrongfully accused and convicted. It happens all the time here and I'm sure we're far from alone in that regard.
You are keeping in mind that this happened in Honduras correct? Different principles on discipline there, compared to here in the United States. I'm siding with m2c2 on the matter though - there are a lack of details to make any proper assumption.
Good for you, Mr. Banilla.
For those of you who think he should be put back in prison, he only had months left on his sentence, so he had paid for his crime, and saving hundreds of people from burning to death is in my mind an act of redemption that cannot and should not be ignored.
I wish him peace, and he has my utmost respect.