Last month's quake came as a blessing in disguise for 220 prisoners lodged in three jails in Nepal. The prisoners used the opportunity to escape from the damaged structures.
Most of the escapees, 216 of them, fled from the district prison in Sindhupalchowk, the worst affected district on the April 25 quake. Four others escaped from two prisons in the capital.
"The prison in Sindhupalchowk was completely damaged in the quake and the prisoners took that opportunity to flee," confirmed Nepal Police spokesperson Kamal Singh Bam.
Three prisoners escaped from central jail in Kathmandu while one more fled from a separate jail in Dillibazaar area of the capital.
Bam informed that the police department has been able to track down just 4-5 of the missing prisoners till date---more than two weeks since the quake. Two of them are Pakistani nationals.
The quake had also damaged 40 prisons across Nepal and 16 prisoners had been killed when a part of Kathmandu's central jail collapsed after the temblor. Jail authorities have been forced to keep some prisoners in open spaces under tents and tarpaulins.
