TEHRAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th March, 2020) About 70 prisoners escaped from a prison in Iran, which is now battling with the coronavirus epidemic, Mohammad Jabbari, the prosecutor of Kurdistan Province in western Iran, where the incident occurred, said on Friday.
"About 70 prisoners escaped tonight from a prison in the city of Saqqez. To date, some of them have surrendered themselves," the prosecutor said, as quoted by the state-run news agency Fars.
During the escape, some inmates beat the guards, Jabbari said. The Fars agency reported, citing eyewitnesses, that the fugitives got into passing cars, threatening their drivers with blade weapons.
The prosecutor said that the authorities were investigating the causes of this incident.
Earlier, the Iranian authorities temporarily released about 85,000 prisoners fearing fast spread of the coronavirus in jails.
On Friday, Iranian authorities reported that the number of COVID-19 cases in the country had risen by 2,926 over the past day to 32,332, while the death toll had grown by 144 to 2,378. At the same time, more than 11,100 people recovered.
