Devastating floods collapsed walls at a jail in Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria early last week, allowing 281 prisoners to escape, prison authorities said on Sunday.Seven of the escaped inmates have been recaptured in operations by security agencies, Umar Abubakar, spokesperson for the Nigeria Correctional Services said in a statement.
“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 said.
Operations to recapture the remainder of the inmates were underway, he said.
The flood has killed at least 30 people according to the country’s emergency agency and affected a million others, with hundreds of thousands of people forced into camps for displaced people.