IN PICTURES: This is how the Sun City prisoners broke out

10 April 2018 - 16:10 By Naledi Shange

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A wire mesh grill was cut.
Image: Supplied

Images from the Johannesburg Correctional Centre also known as Sun City prison where 16 awaiting trial inmates have escaped show that part of the brick wall of the prison was removed.

Pictures sent to TimesLIVE on Tuesday‚ a day after the mass escape‚ showed the debris of bricks left behind.

The stacked metal cupboards that helped the prisoners escape.
Image: Supplied

Some metal cupboards were stacked onto each other‚ leading to the hole in the wall.

A wire mesh grill was cut and pushed backwards allowing for ample room for the 16 to make their way out.

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More than 24 hours after the brazen escape‚ the Department of Correctional Services had yet to respond to TimesLIVE's questions on how the prisoners got out.

Some of the questions sent to the department included:

whether the group of escaped inmates was armed?
whether any guards had been injured as they made their way out?
did none of the guards hear anything at all?
while the department said they had noticed at 3am that the prisoners had fled‚ when exactly had the escape happened?

By Tuesday afternoon‚ the department had not yet re-arrested any of the escapees.

Bricks removed from the wall.
Image: Supplied

It sent pictures of the 16 men on the run‚ pleading for assistance in their recapture.

"The Department of Correctional Services would like to call upon families‚ friends and members of the public to assist in the apprehension and recapture of these fugitives‚" spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said in a statement.