Seven prisoners escaped from Stung Treng prison in Cambodia, authorities searching
Four Laotians and three Cambodian prisoners yesterday made a break and escaped from the Stung Treng provincial prison in Stung Treng city.
Authorities are hunting for them and have called for the public to cooperate with them in the search.
Men Kong, a spokesman for Stung Treng province, said authorities across the province are searching for the seven prisoners who broke through a wall at 3 am yesterday morning.
The seven used sticks to break through a prison wall to escape. One of the Laotian escapees was serving a life sentence and another had been sentenced to 20 years in jail.
He called on the public to cooperate and report any sighting of the escapees to the authorities.
“The authorities have a lead on the location of the prisoners as we suspect their intention was to cross the Mekong River to Thala Borivat district. We have discovered that a boat went missing along the Mekong River around the time of the escape,” he said.
He said: “We found a large piece of timber at the scene, along with other tools. We don’t know where they got all the materials or how exactly they were able to make a large enough hole in the wall to escape.”
“I think perhaps they have some knowledge of construction or muffled their efforts to break through the wall somehow and it happened very early in the morning, so it is possible that some of the prison guards may have fallen asleep at the moment they made their attempt to escape,” he said.
According to the Stung Treng provincial police, citizens who know the whereabouts of the prisoners or have seen them should report their location to authorities by contacting Stung Treng city police chief 097 822 5555, Thala Borivat district police chief 088 311 4007, Siem Bok district police chief 031 977 8496, Sesan district police chief 088 647 6999, Siem Pang district police chief 088 388 8856, or Borey O’Svay Senchey district police chief 097 9999 940.
Stung Treng Provincial Prison director Chhun Dara said that six of the seven fugitives were convicted of drug trafficking and one was convicted for aggravated theft.
The escapees are identified as Lavan Kavong Pheng, Chakly Chertaly, Ten Ngen, Vann To, Tou Vath, Mean Vimean, and Sean Khon.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES