Chinese quake prisoners escape injury

Chinese quake prisoners escape injury

The quake caused widespread devastation

This week's powerful earthquake in western China struck close to two jails, but none of their inmates escaped, state media reported on Wednesday.

Xinhua news agency said the 1,000 or so inhabitants of Bachu County Prison and Kashi Prison were "all safe and well", even though more than 170 housing units collapsed or were damaged in Monday's quake.

Prison officers were reported to have put up wire netting around damaged prison walls and to have set up tents for inmates, Xinhua said.

More than 100 extra police and guards have been deployed in the region since the quake, the agency reported.

Bachu and Kashi prisons have reportedly arranged for some of these law enforcement officers to visit the families of some of the inmates affected.

Rescuers are continuing to sift through rubble to search for more survivors of the quake, which has killed more than 260 people, five of whom died in aftershocks on Tuesday.

More than 4,000 others were injured in the tremor, which measured 6.8 on the Richter scale.