The Associated Press
SAO PAULO — Brazilian authorities say they’re searching for more than 70 prisoners who escaped a jail during a pounding rainstorm this weekend.
Police officer Joaquim Rodrigues says the escape happened in Bahia state in Brazil’s northeast and involved inmates accused of murder and drug trafficking among other crimes.
Rodrigues tells the G1 news web portal that investigators are searching for at least 72 prisoners still on the lam. They’ve captured 10.
The officer told G1 Sunday that the inmates sawed locks off cell doors and escaped through a hole they cut in a cell’s roof. He said the escape took place during a pounding rainstorm that masked the noise the prisoners were making.
Police officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.