"None of the public servants or the private security personnel took any action to open the door for the migrants who were inside," says a prosecutor.
The deaths of 39 migrants in a fire at a Mexican detention centre are being investigated as suspected homicides, a prosecutor has said, accusing those in charge of doing nothing to evacuate the victims.
An investigation was opened "for the crime of homicide and damage to property," though other possible crimes will also be considered, Sara Irene Herrerias, a prosecutor specialising in human rights, said on Wednesday.
"None of the public servants or the private security personnel took any action to open the door for the migrants who were inside," she told reporters.
Eight people had been identified as allegedly responsible for the failure, Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodriguez said at the same news conference.
They are two federal agents and a state immigration official, as well as five members of a private security company.
Prosecutors have already requested several arrest warrants, Herrerias said.
READ MORE: Several killed as fire breaks out at migrant centre near Mexico-US border
Officials at Mexican detention centre where at least 39 migrants died in fire did nothing to evacuate victims, authorities say, adding eight people allegedly responsible had been identified pic.twitter.com/iP3DFpPsbr
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'No impunity' over tragedy
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador earlier vowed there would be "no impunity" over the tragedy in Ciudad Juarez near the US border.
Authorities faced mounting scrutiny of their handling of the disaster after video surveillance footage appeared to show guards leaving as flames engulfed a cell with migrants trapped inside.
"We will not hide anything and there will be no impunity," President Lopez Obrador told reporters after the blaze in Ciudad Juarez near the US border late on Monday.
Those found to have been responsible for "causing this painful tragedy will be punished in conformity with the law," he said.
In the video, whose authenticity was confirmed by the government, three guards seem to hurry away leaving migrants in their cell as flames spread and smoke fills the building.
El Salvador, which said some of its citizens were seriously injured, demanded that the people in charge of the facility be punished since the video showed migrants "were left inside the cells without any chance of getting to safety."
In Washington, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described the video as "heartbreaking" and offered "condolences for the tragic loss of life."
READ MORE: Desperate migrants throng US-Mexico border amid asylum limbo
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