Eight die in mass prison escape attempt

Eight prisoners have died in a collapsed tunnel and 32 others are still at large after one of the most daring escape attempts in recent memory from the sprawling Sao Paulo State Penitentiary in Brazil.

“The numbers we have now show 87 prisoners attempted to escape through a tunnel during visiting hours on Sunday afternoon,” State Penitentiary spokeswoman Cida Goncalves said today.

She said eight died in the attempt when the tunnel collapsed and 47 have been recaptured so far. “Those numbers may still change as more are recaptured and excavation work continues in the area of the collapsed tunnel,” she said.

Guards at the penitentiary, located in an area of working class homes and small businesses, said the tunnel was apparently dug by accomplices from somewhere outside the prison walls. They said it connected a local sewer system to the inside of the prison complex.

In some places, the 120-metre (131 yard) tunnel was shored up by cement blocks and included drains and a makeshift ventilation system.

Police were tipped off about the escape attempt when local residents saw mud and sewage-soaked prisoners crawling, one after the other, out of a manhole in the middle of a main avenue.

Police captured 29 of the would-be escapees as they emerged from manholes before the tunnel collapsed. Another 15 were captured as they wandered around local streets or sought refuge in homes. Ms Goncalves said police confiscated 21 mobile telephones and a revolver from the 44 recaptured convicts.

Police said the escapees were easy to identify because of caked mud and sewage on their clothing.

Police and firemen used a backhoe and other heavy equipment in efforts to locate survivors in the collapsed tunnel. Ms Goncalves said they had found five bodies. A sixth prisoner was found alive but later died in a local hospital of injuries sustained when the tunnel’s roof collapsed.

In a statement, State Penitentiaries director Nagashi Furukawa said it was “unlikely” the escape attempt was related to recent incidents of violence against police and prison authorities by an organised crime group known as the First Capital Command.

The group, also known by its Portuguese initials PCC, is responsible for 43 attacks against police precincts since November 2. Three police officers have died in the attacks while 12 have been injured. Some 23 PCC members have been arrested in the attacks.

Furukawa said guards were conducting a cell-by-cell search of the prison today in efforts to confiscate weapons and other contraband.