RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Latest on the deadly prison riot in Brazil (all times local):
11 a.m.
Security officials in Brazil say four of the inmates allegedly involved in a deadly prison riot have died of suffocation while being transported to a different lockup.
The Para state public security office says they were discovered dead when the prison vehicle arrived in the town of Maraba on Wednesday.
Authorities say the vehicle had four compartments and was carrying 30 handcuffed inmates who were suspected of involvement in a clash between gangs at the Altamira prison on Monday that killed at least 58 inmates.
Authorities say the four who died were from the same gang.
They say they’re investigating the case.
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2 a.m.
Forensic experts in the Brazilian city of Altamira say they’ve identified 17 of the 58 inmates who were killed in a bloody prison riot. Relatives have been facing the grim task of identifying sometimes decapitated corpses.
Only 15 of the bodies had been released to family members by late Tuesday.
As the slow process of identifying the bodies from Monday’s clash between rival gangs advanced, dozens of frustrated family members spent the day waiting outside the city’s forensic institute.
Authorities are trying to prevent violence by transferring 46 inmates accused of being involved in the violence to other prisons, including stricter federal ones.
State officials say clashes erupted in Altamira early Monday when the local Comando Classe A gang attacked a wing of the prison where members of rival gang Comando Vermelho, or Red Command, were held.
