Aat least 1,200 prisoners escaped from three prisons located in the province of Central Sulawesi after the earthquake.

Axar.az informs citing TASS.

According to the official representative of the Justice Ministry of the country, prisoners escaped from prisons as they feared to suffer from tremors.

It is noted that the prisoners escaped from overcrowded prisons in the city of Palu and the regency of Dungal in the Central Sulawesi province.

By the information, a fire erupted during the earthquake in the prison of Dungal regency, where 343 people escaped. As reported by the agency, most of the prisoners were convicted of corruption and drug-related crimes.

Notably, an earthquake of magnitude 7.4 occurred in the province of Central Sulawesi on September 28, where about 170 repeated tremors were recorded during the two days.

According to the latest data, as a result of the disaster more than 1,200 people were killed, while hundreds were seriously injured. Moreover, at least 16,000 local residents were forced to leave their homes while thousands of houses, hotels and shopping centers were destroyed.