'Freedom day' for 200 Pak prisoners as quake spreads panic

Karachi, June 3: More than 200 inmates escaped from a jail in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi late Monday and early Tuesday when they overpowered prison guards after being allowed to leave their cells following a series of earthquakes, local officials and police said.

- REUTERS

The jailbreak began just before midnight and continued into the early hours of Tuesday after hundreds of prisoners were allowed into the courtyard of the District Malir prison because of the tremors, Zia-ul-Hasan Lanjar, the provincial law minister, told reporters at the scene Tuesday.

Police said the prisoners snatched guns from prison staff and forced open the main gate after a shootout, evading paramilitary soldiers. At least one prisoner was killed and three guards wounded, said Provincial Police Chief Ghulam Nabi Memon.