Fire in cells of Venezuelan police station kills 78

Distraught families are demanding information from the Venezuelan authorities about how at least 78 people died in a fire while they were locked in police cells. Police fired teargas as relatives clashed with police outside the facility in Valencia, Carabobo state, after local officials would confirm only that there had been deaths in Wednesday’s fire. The fire appears to have broken out during a disturbance at the holding – reportedly designed to hold a maximum of 60 prisoners – with gunfire heard during the riot. “I don’t know if my son is dead or alive,” Aida Parra, the mother of one of the prisoners inside the facility, told the Spanish news agency EFE. “They haven’t told me anything.” More…