MONTEVIDEO, Sept 26, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Six inmates died after a fire ripped through their cell in a prison on the outskirts of Uruguay's capital Montevideo, the interior ministry said Wednesday.

The cause of the blaze at Santiago Vazquez penitentiary, the biggest prison in the Latin American country, was unknown.

Six charred bodies were found in a locked cell in an area where the other cells were all open, the ministry said.

It added that a prisoner from an adjoining cell was taken to the prison hospital for treatment.

A fire at the same prison in December 2023 killed six people. An investigation determined it was deliberately started, and four prisoners were charged with murder.

Uruguay has the highest incarceration rate in Latin America and the tenth-highest in the world, according to state figures.

Four out of every thousand Uruguayans were behind bars in 2023, a record level, according to a recent report by the parliamentary prisons commissioner.

The prisons commissioner had warned of poor conditions at Santiago Vazquez penitentiary, saying a "lack of opportunities for rehabilitation and integration" was leading to "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of the prisoners.