Prison break in South Africa sparks manhunt

A large manhunt has been launched in South Africa after a group of prisoners escaped as they awaited trial.

The inmates made a break from Malmesbury Correctional Centre in the Western Cape on Friday afternoon.

Police were deployed to the area to search for them on foot and in vehicles, and managed to arrest “several escapees”, police spokesman Novela Potelwa told The South African.

Prisoners escape Malmesbury. Some even hijacked a vehicle. pic.twitter.com/HqugqzLu5M

— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) July 24, 2020

It is not clear how many escaped.

The prisoners’ escape was captured by a member of the public who was in his car outside the prison.

In the video, several men wearing yellow prison uniforms could be seen running from the jail as shots are heard, and he said some “even hijacked a vehicle”.

Further footage showed police arresting a prisoner who was found on a highway under a truck, while another video showed two other prisoners being placed in a police van after being found outside a house.