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Japanese police are trying to capture an escaped convict who broke out of a prison in Hiroshima, wearing only his underwear, according to media reports.
Li Guolin, a Chinese national sentenced to 23 years in prison for attempted murder, climbed scaffolding used by builders and jumped over a perimeter fence, according to the Kyodo news agency, citing police officials. The sensors and alarms on the wall had been switched off.
He was apparently exercising in the prison yard when he suddenly took off his prison uniform and made the escape. The temperature was around 40 degrees Fahrenheit at the time.
“He fell on his rear and turned over. Then he ran off at a steady trot,” a security guard at the prison told Kyodo, saying he saw the incident unfold on Wednesday.
Li, 40, convicted for firing a gun at a police officer during a burglary in 2005, is the first person to escape from a Japanese prison since 1990.
“We are really sorry. We just hope that he does not commit any more crimes,” prison spokesperson Hideyuki Yamasaki told the news agency.
Nearly 800 police officers have been assigned to hunt Li, according to the Associated Press.
