A fire that broke out Saturday afternoon at the Victoria Jail caused 11 deaths and 41 inmates to be seriously burned. Of these, four are in the intensive care unit of the Luis Eduardo Aybar Hospital Burn Center, the main burn unit of the Dominican Republic. Of the eleven dead, only ten had been identified as of Sunday. As per Sunday evening, 27 inmates were still interned in the Luis Eduardo Aybar, Darío Contreras or Plaza de la Salud hospitals. The fire occurred on Saturday at around 3:30 pm in the hall known as "El Comedor," the jail’s former dining room converted into prison living quarters due to the overpopulation of the jail. La Victoria has capacity for 1,600 prisoners, but houses 3,384. The fire was accidental, but its causes have not yet been clarified. The Department of Prisons says there are three versions: the fire was caused by a sheet (used to divide individual spaces inside the jail halls) that caught on fire due to a lit candle; a sheet made contact with an electric stove in use by an inmate; two electric wires made contact and caused the fire. The fire started near the only entrance to the hall where 480 inmates were living. For many inmates, it was a choice of dying or getting burned. On Sunday and Monday, thousands of persons visited the jail to get information on their relatives and friends.
