200 prisoners run helter skelter on Karachi streets as earthquakes set stage for midnight jailbreak

Over 200 prisoners escaped in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi late on Monday after they were permitted to leave their cells following a series of earthquake tremors, local officials and police said.

Hundreds of prisoners were allowed into the courtyard of the jail due to the tremors, Zia-ul-Hasan Lanjar, the provincial law minister, told reporters at the scene.

"There was panic here because of earthquake tremors," said Lanjar, adding that it was hard to control a throng of up to 1,000 people.

The jailbreak began just before midnight on Monday and carried on till the early hours of Tuesday, he said.

Police said the prisoners snatched guns from prison staff, leading to a shootout, and then forced open the main gate.

On Tuesday, a Reuters reporter at the site saw shattered glass and damaged electronic equipment inside the jail. A meeting room, for prisoners to see their families, had been ransacked. Anxious family members gathered outside the jail on Tuesday.

It was one of the largest jailbreaks ever in Pakistan, Lanjar said. The prison in the Malir district of Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, is in a poor residential and industrial neighbourhood.

Prisoners ran through the area through the night, some barefoot, chased by police, with police managing to round some up into police vans, local TV footage showed. Provincial police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said that most of the inmates had been involved in small-time crimes like drug addiction.

At least one prisoner was killed in the shooting, which also wounded three prison staff, he said.

Murad Ali Shah, the provincial chief minister, said that around 80 prisoners had so far been caught, adding that it was a mistake for the prison authorities to have allowed the inmates out of their cells. He warned those still at large to hand themselves in, or face a serious charge for breaking out.

"Petty crime charges will become a big case like terrorism," Shah said.

Some videos have gone viral that purportedly show prison inmates running away.

In one of the videos, an official says the police have cordoned off the area. On being asked how many prisoners had escaped, he simply says, "Jo nikal gaye, woh nikal gaye... Abhi counting karenge toh pata chalega kitne nikle hain..."