Buenos Aires, December 3 (NA) – Two inmates were charged with setting fire to the Salta General Penitentiary, which left one dead and 22 injured. According to information published on the official website of the local Ministry of Public Prosecution and accessed by the Argentine News Agency, the incident occurred during the night of Sunday, October 26, in Pavilion B1, where the fire started. Agents from the Criminalistics division of the Prosecutor's Investigation Corps and Salta Police Firefighters investigated the origin of the blaze. It was determined that two of the accused had placed mattresses with the aim of covering the door bars and blocking the air exits into the corridor, while using an object to hold them in place and setting them with a makeshift lighter made from toilet paper to cause combustion and burn the cell. 22 prisoners were intoxicated with carbon monoxide and suffered significant burns to various parts of their bodies. On November 8, one of the inmates died in intensive care due to multiple organ failure. In this context, the prosecutor for Penal Case 1 of the Unit for Grave Attacks on Persons, Santiago López Soto, charged a 33-year-old man and a 25-year-old with the crimes of 'willful destruction with danger of death to third parties and willful destruction followed by death in ideal concurrence'.
