Nearly three dozen prisoners awaiting trial in a crowded jail in a provincial city north of the Haitian escaped by sawing through steel bars, authorities said.
Thirty-four prisoners crawled through the window at the jail in Saint Marc and fled into the darkness, according to officials with the Haitian National Police.
Saint Marc Police Commissioner Berson Soljour said four of the men had been recaptured, but the rest remained at large. He said all of those who escaped had been awaiting trial, including one facing a charge of murder.
An officer who was on overnight duty at the jail has been detained on suspicion of aiding the escape, said Charles Roubins, a police investigator.
Saint Marc is a port city about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of the capital and is the largest city between Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien. Police were circulating photos of the men throughout the central Artibonite region.
