Peshawar, Pakistan – more than 200 inmates escaped from a prison in Pakistan on Monday after a series of earthquakes shook the port city of southern Karachi and began panic, local authorities said.
More than 600 inmates in the Malir prison were being transferred to another section of the installation for their security after the earthquake when some tried to flee, Zia-Ul-Haha Lanjar, the interior minister of the province of Sindh, told journalists on Tuesday.
Until now, 80 escapes have been Rentary, the superintendent of the Arshad Shah prison told journalists in Karachi, adding that “efforts are being made to recover the remaining 136 prisoners.”
An inmate died and three security officials were injured in a shooting during the break of the prison, said Associated Press, citing the senior Kashif Abbasi police officer.
Ghulam Nabi Memon, the police chief of the province of Sindh, said that most prisoners faced drug positions and other smaller cases.
Memon said the authorities have data on who has escaped exactly and can bring them back.
“There will be an investigation to see why and how this happened,” he said.
Karachi experienced multiple minor and shallow earthquakes in the last 24 hours up to 3.4 in magnitude, according to the National Seismic Monitoring Center of Pakistan.
The breaks in the prison are rare in Pakistan, where security has been increased since 2013, when the Pakistani Taliban helped 200 inmates to free themselves during an attack on a prison in another province.
Mushtaq Yusufzai reported from Peshawar, Pakistan and Mithil Aggarwal informed from Hong Kong.
The Association press contributed.
