200 prisoners break out of Pak jail after quake panic

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

The jailbreak began just before midnight and continued into the early hours yesterday 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.

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.

"I heard the firing for quite some time and then some time later prisoners made their way out running in all directions," Bukhsh, a private security guard at a residential complex opposite the jail who goes by a single name, told Reuters.

He added that some of the prisoners entered the apartment complex before being taken away by police.

Yesterday, a Reuters reporter who visited the prison saw shattered glass and damaged electronic equipment.