Most dangerous city: San Pedro Sula, Honduras

San Pedro Sula, Honduras, has been given the unfortunate title of the most dangerous city in the world. The data was compiled by Citizen Council for Public Security, Justice, and Peace, a Mexican think tank focusing on crime statistics from the Western Hemisphere. The city tops the list for the second year in a row. Photographers Jorge Cabrera of Reuters and Esteban Felix of Associated Press spent time with with local police and in emergency rooms documenting the violence at the end of March 2013. They captured arresting scenes of death, fear, pain, and grief. San Pedro Sula has a homicide rate of 169 per 100,000 people. Laws allow civilians to own up to five personal guns. Arms trafficking has flooded the country with nearly 70 percent illegal firearms; 83.4 percent of homicides are by firearms, compared to 60 percent in the United States. (Information gathered from Reuters and Associated Press)- Leanne Burden Seidel(26 photos total)

Police tape cordons off a crime scene near the body of a victim in the city of San Pedro Sula on March 22, 2013. Unknown assailants killed three men and one woman in a working class neighborhood, local media reported. (Jorge Cabrera/Reuters)

A woman cries near the body of Justiniano Lara, unseen, after he was killed by unidentified assailants in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, March, 25, 2013. (Esteban Felix/Associated Press) #

The body of Carlos Pineda, 30, lies on a stretcher outside the morgue of a public hospital, after being shot in the head and spending a day of agony in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, March, 25, 2013. (Esteban Felix/Associated Press) #

A man with a cross reading "Jesus loves you" lies on a stretcher after receiving a gunshot wound to his leg, at the emergency ward of a local hospital in San Pedro Sula, March 20, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters) #

The covered-up body of a man killed in a shoot-out between members of the Mara 18 street gang and police and military during an anti-drug operation lies in a house entrance in San Pedro Sula March 27, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters) #

Suspected members of the Mara 18 street gang sit on a pick-up truck after their arrest after a shoot-out with police and military during an anti-drug operation in San Pedro Sula, March 27, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters) #

Confiscated weapons lie on a couch after the arrest of several members of the Mara 18 street gang during an anti-drug operation in San Pedro Sula March 27, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters)#

People stand near a crime scene where the dead body of a man was found after he was shot by gang members in San Pedro Sula, March 28, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters) #

Two men on stretchers are taken to the operation room at a local hospital after they had been attacked by a gang in San Pedro Sula, March 27, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters)#

A syringe rests on a wall inside the emergency room of a local hospital in San Pedro Sula, March 20, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters)#

A doctor talks to a patient's family member at the emergency ward of a local hospital in San Pedro Sula, March 29, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters)#

A man reacts as a doctor treats his wounds after he had been attacked by a gang in San Pedro Sula, March 28, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters) #

The body of a woman who was was killed with three gunshots to the head lies on the ground at a crime scene in San Pedro Sula, March 21, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters)#

A forensic technician stands at a crime scene where a young man was shot dead in San Pedro Sula, March 28, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters) #

Friends and family members stand near a crime scene where a young man had been shot dead in San Pedro Sula, March 28, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters) #

A devotee of the Light of the World Church holds a sign while participating in a march against violence in San Pedro Sula, March 28, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters)#

Family members react while standing next to a woman who died after she was hit by a stray bullet during a shoot-out between rival gangs in San Pedro Sula, March 27, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters) #

The legs of a man, who received a gunshot to his head, are tied to a stretcher in the emergency ward of a local hospital in San Pedro Sula March 23, 2013.(Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters) #

Police officers escort a member of the Mara 18 gang inside the emergency room of the public hospital in San Pedro Sula, Honduras on March 23, 2013. (Esteban Felix/Associated Press)#

A security guard holds the door of the emergency ward of a local hospital in San Pedro Sula March 20, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters) #

A woman carries a child while walking near police officers after a shoot-out between gang members of the Mara 18 street gang and police and military during an anti-drug operation in San Pedro Sula, March 27, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters)#

Policemen stand guard as Mexico's soccer team attend a practice session at Olimpico stadium in San Pedro Sula, March 21, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/ Reuters) #

A forensic official takes a picture of a man lying dead on the street after being attacked by unidentified assailants in San Pedro Sula, Honduras on March 24, 2013. (Esteban Felix/Associated Press)#

Doctors look at an x-ray at the emergency ward of a local hospital in San Pedro Sula March 28, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/Reuters)#

A man sits in the emergency room of a local hospital after being treated for a gun shot wound and several cuts with a machete in San Pedro Sula, March 27, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/Reuters)#

Family members of patients sleep in a corridor of the emergency ward of a local hospital in San Pedro Sula, March 28, 2013. (Jorge Cabrera/Reuters) #