Hundreds of prisoners escape after multiple earthquakes cause chaos in jail
Hundreds of prisoners have broken out of jail after earthquakes meant they had to stand in a courtyard to avoid the building collapsing.
The inmates then snatched guns from the prison guards and barged their way through the gates following a shootout, with more than 200 now on the loose.
At least one prisoner died in the shootout and three guards were wounded.
Shattered windows and broken glass now cover the inside of the prison with furniture thrown around from the carnage.
Some 80 escapees have been rounded up as cops go door-to-door to find those on the run, while nearly 130 are still at large, according to Murad Ali Shah, the provincial chief minister.
Tremors had rocked the southern Pakistani city of Karachi late on Monday, with the prisoners escaping District Malir just before midnight.
One local outlet said the inmates were able to escape through the jail's outer wall that had been weakened from the earthquakes.
Local TV footage showed some joyous inmates running through the streets barefoot.
While other inmates were unnerved by the tremors due to their heroin addiction, according to an official.
Sindh Inspector General of Police, Ghulam Nabi Memon, told Dawn.com that 'most of the prisoners were drug addicts'.
'The addicts' state of mind is such that they tend to develop mob psychology. Thus, when such an atmosphere was created inside the prison, the prisoners ran by opening the door of the jail,' he added.
Before the panicked inmates were allowed to gather outside, thousands of them began trying to break down their doors when they started to feel the tremors.
When the frenzy became violent, police reportedly tried to calm the havoc by firing nearly 700 warning shots.
The provincial chief minister criticised the guards for letting the inmates out in the first place and urged any still on the run to hand themselves over or face serious charges.
One mother was reported to have dragged her own son back to prison after returning home.
The cramped jail is meant to house only 2,200 people but there are at least 6,000 currently inside.
A private security guard at a nearby residential complex who goes by the name of Bukhsh said 'I heard the firing for quite some time and then some time later prisoners made their way out running in all directions'.
Some of the vigilantes broke into his complex before they were rounded up by police.
The minister for prisons in the region, Ali Hassan Zardari, warned that any officers who allowed the prisoners to escape will be disciplined after launching an investigation into the breakout.
The superintendent for Malir prison, Arshad Shah, said there were 28 guards on duty last night and insisted there was no issue with security.
It was 'all due to a natural disaster', it was reported in the BBC, however there are no security cameras in the facility.
He added that 'only a few of such a large number of prisoners escaped'.
Concerned families have been gathering outside the prison in the mean time, angry that their visits to loved ones inside have been postponed.
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