Manhunt on after 12 flee prison

Manhunt on after 12 flee prison

MANILA (AFP): Police in the neighboring province of Rizal have been put on alert after 12 inmates escaped from the provincial prison before dawn yesterday, police said.

The prisoners, who included two kidnappers as well as others convicted for gun possession, drug dealing and robbery, broke out of jail by sawing off the bars of their cell window, senior police superintendent Cresencio Maralit said.

Prison guards who normally man the walls of the Rizal Provincial Jail were away from their positions at the time of the escape due to the heavy rains, Maralit said.