Chilean Prison director Luis Antonio Masferrer said on Wednesday that there were 81 fatal victims of the fire at San Miguel Prison in Santiago, not 83.

A TV grab shows the burning San Miguel prison in Santiago, the capital of Chile, 2010, December 8. A fire at a prison in the Chilean capital of Santiago killed more than 80 inmates and made 200 others evacuated on Wednesday morning. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

Masferrer corrected the figure stated earlier by Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, who said Wednesday morning that there were 83 fatal victims.

"There were 81 deaths in the fire," Masferrer told the press at the entrance of the prison and added that they are working to identify the victims, which "in some cases will take time."

Masferrer said that the figure was corrected after they confirmed that two of the prisoners who were believed to be dead were actually hospitalized.

Earlier on Wednesday, Pinera arrived at the scene and described the incident as "tremendous and painful." He extended condolences to the families of the victims and promised to reform the jail system.

President of the Human Rights Commission of the Deputies Chamber, Hugo Gutierrez told Xinhua that the overcrowding of the prisons is not only caused by a lack of prisons.

"We have a system which privileges keeping many people in prison, without plans for rehabilitation, where we only exclude people by putting them in prison, and (we have) an economic system which increases this exclusion, which in the long term generates these kinds of tragedies," Gutierrez said.

"We will establish an investigation commission in parliament to study the causes of this new tragedy in Chilean prisons," he added.

Chile has one of the highest rates of prisoners in the world.

Radio Bio-Bio reported that the fire first hit the third floor of Tower Five of the San Miguel Prison in southern Santiago. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Officials said that most fatalities were likely caused by suffocation.

There were about 2,900 prisoners inside the jail when the fire broke out just minutes after 5:00 a.m. local time (0800 GMT). The total casualties may rise, and at least 100 people were injured and hospitalized.

The identities of the dead remained unknown, which provoked aggressive reactions by the people at the scene. Some threw stones and insulted police officers, demanding more information.

Firemen and dozens of volunteers were battling the flames, while ambulances rushed the wounded to hospitals.

Relatives were waiting outside for news. Many of them were visibly sad and worried, and kept asking police officers about the latest developments.

A spokesman for the state prison system said, "We are trying to identify the dead inmates now."

A man named Jorge told Xinhua that his cousin was recently sent to the prison, and he has not heard any information about him.

An eyewitness who identified himself as Fernando told Radio Bio- Bio that smoke could be seen rising from the prison.

Dec. 8 is the Virgin's Asuncion Day, a religious festival for Catholics in this country. Many families came with crosses and other religious items, praying for the safety of their beloved ones.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet