More than 100 inmates escaped from a prison in the southern city of Karachi overnight, and at least one was killed in a shootout, officials said Tuesday. The jailbreak occurred after prisoners were temporarily moved from their cells following mild earthquake tremors.
Kashif Abbasi, a senior police official, said 216 inmates, mostly held for minor offenses, fled the facility in Sindh province’s capital before dawn.
Of those, 78 have been recaptured. No one convicted of or facing trial as a militant was among those who escaped, he said.
One prisoner was killed and three security officials were wounded in the ensuing shootout, but the situation has been brought under control, Abbasi said, adding that police are conducting raids to apprehend the remaining escapees.
Ziaul Hassan, the home minister of Sindh province, stated that the jailbreak occurred after prisoners were evacuated from their cells for safety during the earthquake.
The inmates were still outside their cells when a group suddenly attacked guards, seized their weapons, opened fire and fled.
Though prisoners have escaped while being transported to court for trial, prison breaks are not common in Pakistan, where authorities have enhanced security since 2013, when the Pakistani Taliban freed more than 200 inmates in an attack on a prison in the northwestern Dera Ismail Khan district.
