Search on for two dozen inmates after Indonesia prison break

Indonesian authorities are searching for two dozen inmates who escaped from a prison by sawing through the iron bars of a ventilation window, police said Monday.

While six inmates were quickly apprehended after the Sunday escape, another 25 are still on the run from Doyo prison, an institution for drug offenders in easternmost Papua province, authorities said.

“We have deployed officers to hunt them, secure the borders, the harbour, airport and also to set up extra security behind the prison,” said Jayapura police chief Victor Dean Mackbon.

Prison breaks are not uncommon in Indonesia.

In May last year, more than 200 inmates escaped in a mass breakout from an overcrowded prison in Sumatra. A month later, four foreign inmates tunnelled themselves out of a prison on the resort island of Bali.

Police managed to recapture three of the foreigners a few days later in neighbouring East Timor, but one of them — an Australian — is still on the run.