Relatives of inmates clash with riot police outside the prison in Tulua, Colombia on June 28, 2022, after several prisoners died when rioting inmates set a fire early in the morning to try to prevent police from entering their enclosure. Photo: AFP

At least 52 inmates were killed and 26 more injured early Tuesday after a fire broke out during a prison riot in southwestern Colombia, the national prisons agency said.

The tragedy occurred when rioting inmates set a fire at around 2 am, attempting to prevent police from entering their enclosure at the prison in the city of Tulua, said Tito Castellanos, director of the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (INPEC).

"We have treated a total of 26 injured and the number of deaths is 52," Cristina Lesmes, head of the health department in Valle del Cauca, said on Twitter.

"We have people in very serious condition with extremely extensive burns," she said.

Castellanos had earlier given the "riot" death toll as 49 with another 30, including six prison guards, "injured and affected by the blaze and the smoke."

The prison, which holds more than 1,200 inmates, was surrounded by police and soldiers.

"By setting mattresses alight, they had not gauged what the consequences could be and unfortunately this happened," Castellanos told Radio RCN.

He said the blaze had been brought under control by fire fighters.

By evening, forensic teams had entered the prison to try to identify the bodies.

Outside the prison, dozens of family members gathered hoping for information on their loved ones.

A prison official gave an initial list of survivors to those waiting.

"I don't know anything, INPEC won't let us in," a tearful Maria Eugenia Rojas, whose son Luis Miguel Rojas is an inmate in the pavilion where the riot happened, told Caracol television.

Lorena, who did not give her surname, told the El Tiempo newspaper that she had spoken to her inmate partner at dawn.

"It seems illogical to me that people enclosed in a building would have set mattresses alight knowing that they could have been burned," she said.

Authorities had initially said they were investigating whether the incident occurred as part of an escape attempt but later said it was a riot.

"This situation was provoked by a fight that broke out between prisoners. One of the inmates set fire - he was angry, upset - to a mattress, which provoked the blaze," said Ruiz.

There were 180 inmates in the prison section affected by the fire.

Castellanos praised the efforts of prison guards to control the blaze and help prisoners to safety.

Outgoing President Ivan Duque sent a tweet offering his solidarity with relatives of the victims.

"We regret the events that occurred in the prison in Tulua, Valle del Cauca," Duque said.

"I have given instructions to clarify this terrible situation. My solidarity is with the families of the victims."

AFP