At least 16 people were killed in violent clashes between inmates at a Venezuelan prison, authorities and a non-governmental organization said Tuesday.

At least 16 people were killed in violent clashes between inmates at a Venezuelan prison, authorities and a non-governmental organization said Tuesday.

Humberto Prado, director of the Venezuelan Prison Observatory, told AFP the brawl broke out Monday in the Sabaneta jail in Maracaibo, a city in the country's northwest.

"We recorded the arrival (at Maracaibo's morgue) of five bodies and then of eleven more," Prado said.

Venezuelan Prison Minister Iris Varela later confirmed the 16 fatalities and announced an investigation.

"Fifteen people were killed here, and there was one person, the 16th, who was also killed but in another area," Varela said. His death "was not part of the internal battle that was going on at the time, but also a product of violence."

The official disputed, however, that the clashes were caused by rival gangs vying for control of the facility, as claimed by the Venezuelan Prison Observatory and local media.

"It was not at all to take control of an area," Varela said, expressing her "solidarity" with the families of the victims.

The NGO and local news reports gave gruesome details of the state of the bodies following the confrontation, which lasted several hours.

"Some of the prisoners were dismembered," Prado said, adding some had even been beheaded.

The overcrowded facility houses 3,700 inmates although it was built for 750.
Venezuela's prisons are marred by overcrowding and violence. In many cases, they are controlled by heavily armed gangs of inmates.

According to the Venezuelan Prison Observatory, 591 inmates died in the country's 34 jails last year while another 1,132 were injured. That compares to 560 deaths and 1,457 injured in 2011.

A riot in the country's Uribana prison in January claimed 58 lives, including that of a priest.