Hundreds of prisoners have escaped from a prison in Haiti after an attack by an armed group: at least five people have died

Hundreds of inmates have escaped from Haiti’s main prison after an armed group stormed the prison facility overnight. There were five deaths on Sunday.

The leak marks a new low point the upward spiral of violence in Haiti and comes as criminal gangs take greater control over the capital while embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry is abroad trying to drum up support for a United Nations-backed security force to stabilize the country.

The bodies of three people who had been shot were seen Sunday morning he was lying on the ground near the entrance to the prison, which was wide open with no guards in sight. In the usually overcrowded prison courtyards, there were plastic sandals, clothing and electric fans. In another neighborhood, the bloodied bodies of men, their hands tied behind their backs, lay face down as residents passed checkpoints erected with burning tires.

Officers inside a single police vehicle parked outside the facility refused to say what happened.

Arnel Remy, a human rights lawyer who runs a nonprofit that works inside prisons, said on X, formerly Twitter, than less than 100 of the nearly 4,000 prisoners inmates in the facilities remain behind bars.

Among those who have chosen to stay are 18 former Colombian soldiers accused of working as mercenaries in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. On Saturday night, amid the unrest, many Colombians shared a video urgently pleading for their safety the life.

“Please, please help us… They are slaughtering people indiscriminately inside the cell,” one of the men, Francisco Uribe, said in a 30-second video widely shared on social media.

On Sunday, Uribe told the Associated Press: ““I didn’t fly because I’m innocent.”

In the absence of official information, relatives of the prisoners rushed to prison to try to find their loved ones.

“I don’t know if my son is alive or not,” Alexandre Jean said as he checked the cells. “I do not know what to do”.

Violence appeared to be widespread. Several neighborhoods reported shootings.

There were reports of a prison break at another prison in Port-au-Prince that has around 1,400 inmates. Armed gangs also attacked and vandalized the country’s main football stadium, holding an employee hostage for hours, the national football federation said in a statement. In one part of the country there was no internet service and the country’s main mobile phone company, Digicel, said a fiber optic cable had been cut.

In less than two weeks, several state institutions have been attacked by gangs coordinating with each other and targeting previously unthinkable places such as the Central Bank. After gangs shot up Haiti’s international airport last week, the U.S. Embassy said it would temporarily suspend all official travel to the country. As part of coordinated gang attacks, Four police officers were killed on Thursday.

The epicenter of Saturday night’s violence was Haiti’s national penitentiary, where several criminal gang leaders are being held. In the midst of the shooting, the police called for help.

“They need help,” a union representing Haitian police said in a message posted on social media with an “SOS” emoji repeated eight times. “We mobilize the army and the police to prevent the bandits from entering the prison.”

The Haitian National Police It has around 9,000 officers to provide security to over 11 million peopleyes, according to the UN. Officers are often overwhelmed and outgunned by the powerful gangs, who are estimated to control up to 80 percent of Port-au-Prince.

The armed clashes come amid a series of violent protests that have been simmering for some time but have become more deadly in recent days when Henry, the prime minister, traveled to Kenya to rescue a proposed security mission in Haiti, which would led by that East. African country. Henry took over as prime minister after Moïse’s assassination and repeatedly postponed plans to do so hold parliamentary and presidential electionswhich have not been held for almost a decade.

Jimmy Chérizier, a former elite police officer known as Barbecue who now heads a gang federation, has taken credit for the increase in attacks. He noted that the goal was to capture the police chief and Haitian government ministers and prevent Henry’s return.

The prime minister, a neurosurgeon by profession, has rejected calls for his resignation and did not comment when asked whether he believed the conditions were right for his return to Haiti.