The authorities have confirmed that as of noon of Monday, 7 March, 133 were confirmed dead in the Higuey prison fire. The midnight fire originated in a fight for the control of drug sales within the prison by two gangs, as reported in El Caribe. The death toll could be around 200, as radio press reports have been coming in. The tragedy has shaken Higuey, which is otherwise known as the city where the people who work in Punta Cana live, and for the La Altagracia Basilica. El Caribe confirms that among the deceased are two Puerto Ricans that were jailed in the Puerto Rican TV presenter Laura Hernandez’s drug trafficking case.
Also deceased in the fire, are several of the person that had been in jail accused of pedophile acts in the San Rafael de Yuma hospice case.
This is the worst tragedy in the DR. El Caribe reports that in September 2002, 29 inmates died in a mutiny in the La Vega jail.