Nepalese police search for 53 escaped inmates

NEPAL: Police combed villages and forests near a southern Nepalese town Thursday for 53 inmates who escaped from a jail.

The prisoners escaped Wednesday night after overpowering guards at the jail in Siraha, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) southeast of the capital, Katmandu, government administrator Bal Krishna Panthi said.

One of the inmates was killed when guards opened fire after their escape, he said. Police from neighboring areas were called in and a massive search was ordered, he said. Prisons in Nepal are overcrowded with inadequate number of guards and facilities.

Katmandu, Wednesday, AP