An armed gang has attacked a prison in Haiti freeing an unconfirmed number of inmates, the BBC said.
The Associated Press had put the number of escapees at 329.
The Croix-des-Bouquets jail held more than 800 prisoners before the Sunday morning attack, the BBC said.
The action caused panic in the area around the capital Port-au-Prince where the prison is located.
“We heard a lot of gunshots, and we saw people running in every direction,” a nearby vendor told the AFP news agency.
Among those who escaped is Clifford Brandt, who comes from a wealthy Haitian family and faces charges of kidnapping.
“It was a spectacular escape. There was no battle. A hundred inmates fled the prison,” a Haitian lawmaker told journalists.
Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe visited the area after the raid but made no comments.
The Croix-des-Bouquets prison was built in 2012 with reconstruction money donated by Canada, the BBC reported. Haiti was devastated by an earthquake in 2010.
