The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

It took fire squads three hours to control the blaze, which began after midnight Wednesday, and televised images showed that at least part of the detention center had been gutted. Officials said nearly 200 prisoners were being held in the prefabricated complex at the time.

At least 14 people were treated for injuries, 6 of whom were members of the police or security forces.

A spokesman for the local fire department said the first fire trucks arrived at the site 10 minutes after the fire began. But the main question remains why so many people died.

At a news conference in Haarlemmermeer, a town near the airport, officials said part of the reason might have been that there was no quick way to release the prisoners. They said the buildings, which were a temporary holding center rather than a normal prison, had no system for opening cells simultaneously. "The prison guards had to open each cell door individually," said Marjolein Kistjes, a town hall spokeswoman.

The authorities said it was not clear yet how the fire had started and whether it might have been set.

One detainee told a Dutch radio station that once the fire erupted in one of the cells, the prisoners cried out in alarm, but they were not taken seriously. The detainees started kicking and screaming to convince the authorities that the situation was serious, the prisoner said. But even after the guards responded, it took some time to free all the prisoners.

The destroyed wing of the large detention complex consisted of 24 double-occupancy cells, and officials said 43 detainees were in the wing at the time. Most of the guards belonged to a private security company.

In the chaos after the fire, while detainees were being taken out of the cell complex and moved to other towns, at least five escaped. By dawn Thursday, police helicopters were trying to chase them down.

Members of Parliament called Thursday for an inquiry into the airport prison and the conditions there.

The police said they had not yet identified the dead.

The detention center opened in 2003 in part to deal with the growing wave of drug couriers arriving from Latin America and the Caribbean. More than 3,300 courier suspects were arrested in 2004 alone.

But as the Netherlands tightened its immigration laws and took a hard look at political asylum claims, the airport jail also became a transit center for deportees. Some who died were thought to be recent arrivals or people awaiting deportation.

Gregory Crouch reported from Amsterdam for this article, and Marlise Simons from Paris.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company