MEXICO CITY, April 2 (RAPSI) – After a powerful earthquake rocked coastal Chile on Tuesday night, upwards of 300 female convicts escaped from the Iquique Women’s Prison, Chile’s Interior Minister Rodrigo Peñailillo told the press on Wednesday.
So far, only 16 fugitives have been apprehended. According to the Interior Ministry, a section of the facility collapsed during the8.2-magnitude earthquake, allowing convicts to flee.
CNBC reported Tuesday that the earthquake triggered a tsunami, and resulted in five deaths. Earlier, coastal regions of Chile and Peru were evacuated due to tsunami risk. In 2010, a massive 8.8-magnitude quake and aftershocks in Chile killed at least 521 people and left 200,000 homeless.