After the floods, nearly 300 prisoners were able to flee from a Nigerian prison

Prison authorities announced on Sunday that 281 prisoners were able to flee after the walls of a jail in Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria, collapsed early last week due to devastating floods.

The Nigeria Correctional Services spokesperson, Umar Abubakar, announced in a statement that seven of the escaped detainees have been apprehended by security agencies during operations.

“The floods brought down the walls of the correctional facilities including the Medium Security Custodial Centre, as well as the staff quarters in the city,” Abubakar pointed out.

He stated that operations were currently ongoing to recapture the remaining inmates.

Borno state’s capital, Maiduguri, experienced its most severe flooding in decades early last week. A state-owned zoo was decimated and crocodiles and snakes were washed into flooded communities when a dam overflowed following heavy rainfall, sparking the flooding.

The disaster has resulted in the deaths of at least 30 individuals and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of individuals into camps for the displaced, as reported by the country’s emergency agency. Additionally, a million individuals have been impacted.