Convicts escape Georgia prison

Twelve convicts described by authorities as "particularly dangerous" have broken out of a maximum-security prison in Georgia in the sixth jailbreak in the country over the last six weeks.

A prison guard was seriously injured in the latest escape, which took place in Rustavi 30 kilometres (18 miles) south-east of the capital Tbilisi on Tuesday.

The chairman of Georgia's prison service, Gigla Agulashvili, and his three deputies all tendered their resignations following the incident, local media reported.

The prison service chief handed in his notice after President Eduard Shevardnadze threatened to sack him, the Georgian Prime-News agency reported.

The fugitives hijacked a minibus and fled to an unknown destination, the ITAR-TASS news agency said.

The Rustavi prison houses about 1,000 of Georgia's most dangerous criminals.

Some escapees had been sentenced for murder, said Justice Minister Roland Gigigashvili.

Officials said escapees were apparently aided by a guard.

The latest breakout brings the total to 35 prisoners who have escaped Georgian prisons this year.

On Saturday, eight prisoners escaped from another prison near Tbilisi. Police have only recaptured only one of the fugitives.

Two more escapees were shot dead by Georgian police last month.

Cashless department

A lack of funding for guards at prisons has contributed to the recent spate of escapes.

Georgia, which shares a border with Russia's troubled Chechen Republic, is ravaged by crime and corruption despite attempts to introduce reforms.

In May 2001, 65 Georgian judges were sent off in prison vans to serve three-hour long sentences "inside" in an attempt to show them how bad the system had become.

In November 2000, three prisoners succeeded in using a 30-metre tunnel which had been discovered at Rustavi prison during an escape attempt seven years previously.

The then Georgian justice minister, Mikheil Saakashvili, said at the time that about 1,800 prisoners had escaped since 1992.