The fate of some 105 inmates remained unknown Wednesday as families clamored to learn whether their loved ones perished in a prison fire in central Honduras.

At least 272 prisoners were confirmed dead by fire officials in Comayagua, Honduras.

“Everyone ran for their lives,” said one survivor who spoke briefly to local television cameras.

The young man, who only gave his name as Alex, said he did not know how the fire started but that he and the other prisoners were asleep when they awoke to the screams of fellow inmates.

The prisoners forced themselves out of the prison any way they could, he said.

The blaze was controlled, but the exact number of fatalities remained unknown, said Jose Turcios, spokesman for the Comayagua fire department.

Some 35 prisoners were transported to a local hospital, he said, and some were then taken to a hospital in the capital.

Before dawn Wednesday, families of the prisoners were already gathering in front of the prison gates and authorities’ offices, demanding to know if their loved ones were among the survivors.

Hundreds of family members pressed against the prison’s gates as an official began to read aloud the names of the survivors.

When they were done reading the names, some 105 inmates remained unaccounted for. It was possible that they had also been killed or that they had survived but escaped from the prison.

Five of the prison’s units — more than half of the prison — were affected by the fire, Turcios said. The prison holds 851 prisoners.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation, he said.

The country’s prison commissioner said authorities are looking into whether a short circuit sparked the fire or if possibly a prisoner set a mattress on fire.

The blaze broke out at 11 p.m. Tuesday (12 a.m. Wednesday ET).

The fire was the third fatal prison fire in recent years. In 2003, 61 prisoners were killed in a fire at a prison in La Ceiba. In 2004, the death toll was 107 from a fire in a San Pedro Sula prison.

The U.S. State Department published a report last April which painted a damning portrait of conditions in Honduras’ 24 prisons.

Prisoners “suffered from severe overcrowding, malnutrition, and lack of adequate sanitation,” it cited human rights groups as saying.

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