No fewer than 36 prisoners have escaped from the Ikot Ekpene Prison in Akwa Ibom State.
The prisoners, according to the prison authorities, escaped on Wednesday.
They were said to have attacked the kitchen staff at about 11:47 am.
They reportedly seized an axe from a fellow inmate attached to the kitchen, inflicting deep cut to inmates’ heads in the process and immediately made for the rear entrance of the prison.
They broke the door with the axe and engaged the staff that chased after them in battle.
At the end of the scuffle, four of them that sustained gunshots lost their lives, while seven were recaptured.
Thirty-six are still at large and search parties have been activated to effect their recapture, a statement on Wednesday said.
Meanwhile, the Controller of Prisons, Akwa Ibom State Command, Alex Oditah, has ordered an investigation into the circumstance surrounding the unfortunate incident.
Oditah appealed to members of the public to assist the authority with useful intelligence that will aid the arrest of feeling prisoners, assuring that security has been strengthen in all prison formations in the State to forestall breach of security.
