Jailbreak: 12 on the run

2008-07-18 17:54

Bujumbura - A dozen prisoners were on the run in Burundi on Friday, after a twenty-strong jailbreak of inmates from the country's largest prison, police said.

The prisoners escaped from their jail in the capital of Bujumbura early on Thursday afternoon "after having tricked a guard and overcome a second" one, spokesperson for Burundi police, Pierre-Chanel Ntarabaganyi, told AFP.

Eight were soon recaptured after police fired warning shots over their heads, but 12 remain at large.

The group made their escape by scaling planks put against the 4m high wall that circles the prison, the same source said.

Bujumbura's main prison has some 2 500 inmates crammed into a building designed for only 800 detainees, according to the Burundi Association for the Protection of Detained People and Human Rights.

- AFP