KARACHI, Pakistan – A sudden wave of panic turned into a night of chaos as over 200 prisoners escaped from Karachi’s Malir Jail late Monday night, following a series of earthquake tremors that shook not just the ground beneath, but the very structure of the prison system.
The tremors, which rattled nerves across the city, triggered an emergency response inside the jail. Fearing for the safety of inmates, prison officials made a split-second decision to release hundreds of prisoners into the courtyard. But what started as a precaution quickly spiraled into one of the most dramatic jailbreaks Pakistan has ever seen.
“There was panic everywhere,” said Zia-ul-Hasan Lanjar, the provincial law minister, as he stood near the shattered gates of the prison. “Imagine trying to control nearly a thousand people, all afraid, all confused. It was overwhelming.”
In the chaos, some inmates allegedly overpowered guards, snatching weapons and forcing open the main gates. A shootout erupted in the darkness. At least one prisoner was killed, and three prison staff were injured.
By Tuesday morning, the damage was visible. A Reuters reporter on-site described scenes of destruction—shattered glass, wrecked electronics, and a ransacked visitation room where inmates once connected with loved ones. Outside, tearful and anxious families gathered, unsure whether their relatives were among the missing, the captured, or the dead.
Police scrambled through the night, rounding up escapees—many barefoot, running through Karachi’s dense neighborhoods. So far, around 80 have been recaptured. Most, officials say, were serving time for minor offenses, like drug possession or theft.
But now, with charges of jailbreak looming, their situations have grown far more serious. “A petty case has become a terrorism-level offense,” warned Murad Ali Shah, the provincial chief minister, calling the decision to open the cells a tragic miscalculation.
Karachi trembled from an earthquake that night—but what followed shook the city in a far deeper way.
