Inmates flee Siberian prison via tunnel

Moscow: Over 2,500 police officers are engaged in search of four inmates, jailed for murder and burglary, who escaped from a prison in the East Siberia`s Irkutsk region by digging a tunnel, local officials said Saturday.

The prisoners escaped from an industrial area of a colony in Markovo village, where they worked as carpenters, by digging a 20-metre-long tunnel, an official statement said.

The officials noticed the missing inmates during a morning headcount Saturday.

The prison chief has been suspended for alleged negligence, an official said.

IANS