Nearly 600 drug addicts escaped from a detoxification centre in north-east Vietnam at the weekend, the centre's director said on Monday.
Nguyen Dinh Hoa, head of the centre in the port city of Haiphong, said 578 of the centre's 826 addicts escaped on Sunday evening after threatening the guards, breaking the doors and part of a wall encircling the centre.
Police returned around 150 of the escapees to the centre by Monday morning, Mr Hoa said.
Mr Hoa said the breakout occurred after a clash broke out between two inmates.
He said the centre housed mostly long-term inmates detained on government orders to follow a compulsory detoxification programme.
According to government statistics Vietnam has over 150,000 registered drug addicts, but some experts expect the real number of addicts to be much higher.
600 escape detox centre
Nearly 600 drug addicts escaped from a detoxification centre in north-east Vietnam at the weekend, the centre's director said on Monday.
Source: AFP
