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Four escape through tunnel from prison near Irkutsk

Four convicts escaped from a high security prison in the settlement of Markovo near Irkutsk on Saturday

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

IRKUTSK, May 18 (Itar-Tass) - Four convicts escaped from a high security prison in the settlement of Markovo near Irkutsk on Saturday. They got out through a tunnel made under the main fence, the press service of the federal penitentiary service's regional department said.

Their absence was discovered at 08:00 local time on Saturday. They escaped overnight, police sources said.

Three of the convicts -- Alexander Rybakov, born in 1885, Yuri Prokhorov, born in 1986, and Vladimir Avdeyev, born in 1975 -- are sentenced to long imprisonment for murder. The fourth -- Konstantin Pavlovets, born in 1988, is convicted of robbery.

Police and penitentiary service forces are actively searching for the escapers. A special operation Volcano-5 is launched. The criminals are looked for in the area from the Slyudyanka to Nizhneudinsk districts in the region. A reward is offered for information leading to detention of the prisoners.

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