80 Flee in Brazil Jail Breakout

In one of the most audacious escapes in Brazilian history, more than 80 men have burrowed out of a top security jail to be whisked away by taxis they had booked by mobile phone.

The prisoners at the jail in Paraiba state, 1,200 miles north of Rio de Janeiro, built a tunnel almost 40 metres long and 1.7 metres deep which began inside a cell, continued under two buildings and a perimeter wall, and led to a bush area outside. The authorities discovered an illumination system in the tunnel and spades made from material destroyed in a prison riot four months ago.

"It was a spectacular escape - unseen before in the state's prison system," said an official, Vital do Rego. "They chose a curious escape route. Instead of the shortest route, they went underneath the pavilion and came out at the other side of the prison."

The tunnel was only discovered after a night guard noticed several bermuda shorts and T-shirts strewn in the bushes early on Saturday morning.

According to the local paper, Correio da Paraiba, the escape was coordinated by two men in a parked car 300 metres from the prison wall, who were communicating with the prisoners by mobile phone and making sure they slipped out unseen one by one. Local residents interviewed said they had noticed a large numbers of taxis in the area all night - which were understood to have been ferrying the fugitives away.

The escape is the latest embarrassment to Brazil's overcrowded and underfunded penal system, in which rioting, police-against-prisoner violence and escapes are commonplace.

Since January, in Paraiba alone, there have been at least five escapes and several deaths of inmates. In Rio at the weekend warders discovered a 20 metre tunnel in Bangu 3, a maximum security prison, although no one managed to escape. The prison director, Abel Silverio de Aguiar, was shot dead by masked gunmen in one of the city's busiest streets last Tuesday.

The escape in Paraiba had its roots in a prison rebellion in April which lasted for three days. The Correio de Paraiba said Pavilion 21, scene of the escape, was not fit for human habitation. The cells did not have bars, the stone beds were destroyed and there were no showers or taps.

After the riot, prisoners refused to let workers and technical staff into the cells to fix the damage. Inmates then circulated freely within the prison and ruled without interference from warders.

The jail has about 700 inmates, of which 125 were in Pavilion 21. The 41 prisoners who did not escape from the pavilion did not do so only because they did not want to, according to Mr Do Rego.

So far, only three prisoners are believed to have been recaptured - one after he mugged a woman on a nearby beach. Police are heading to the Paraiba border in an attempt to stop the fugitives reaching other parts of the country.

The state governor, Cassio Cunha Lima, said he believed that some prison staff had helped the inmates. He vowed to punish everyone involved.