ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian authorities said 281 inmates have escaped after devastating floods collapsed the walls of a prison in the country’s northeast.
A large dam has collapsed on September 10, which led to severe flooding that 30 dead and more than a million people were displaced, leading to evacuations in Borno State.
Officers attempted to evacuate the Maiduguri city main prison last week when they discovered the inmates had escaped, Umar Abubakar, spokesman for the Nigeria Correctional Services, said in a statement on Sunday evening.
“The floods have caused the walls of the penitentiaries, including the Medium Security Custodial Centre, as well as staff quarters in the town to collapse,” Abubakar said.
According to him, security personnel were able to re-arrest seven prisoners and the search for the rest is ongoing.
The collapse caused one of the worst floods in the state since the same dam collapsed 30 years ago. The state government said the dam was full due to unusually heavy rainfall.
Two years agoMore than 600 people have died in severe flooding in Nigeria.
West Africa has been hit by the worst flooding in decades this year, with more than 2.3 million people affected, according to the UN, three times as many as in 2023.
