AN GIANG, VIETNAM – A sweeping manhunt is continuing into the night in Vietnam's Mekong Delta province of An Giang, as authorities race to locate dozens of individuals still missing after a mass escape from a drug rehabilitation facility.
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| Photo: A group of students escaped from the facility. |
As of Monday evening, police and local militia forces have successfully tracked down and persuaded 252 of the 314 inmates who broke out of the An Giang Drug Rehabilitation Center No. 2. However, an intensive search is still underway for the 62 escapees who remain at large, prompting a wide-scale security operation across the region.
The mass breakout has mobilized a significant portion of the province's law enforcement resources. Checkpoints have been established on local highways, and patrols are combing through nearby towns, farmland, and forests in a determined effort to secure the remaining individuals.
The situation has created a palpable sense of unease in the local community. In a public appeal, the An Giang Provincial Police have urged the families of the missing inmates to play a crucial role in resolving the situation peacefully.
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| Photo: Some students were discovered by the police and taken to drug rehabilitation facilities. |
"We are calling on families to actively cooperate with the authorities," a police spokesperson announced. "Please reach out to your relatives, persuade them to turn themselves in, and ensure their safe return to the center. Harboring escapees is a violation of the law."
Authorities are using a dual approach in their operation: a combination of active pursuit and community-based persuasion. The primary goal is to bring the remaining individuals back into the facility without incident, relying on family influence to convince them that continuing to evade capture is futile.
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| Photo: Some students were discovered by the police and taken to drug rehabilitation facilities. |
Details on how the mass escape was orchestrated have not yet been fully released, but an incident of this scale is highly unusual and suggests a significant breakdown in the facility's security. An investigation into the cause of the breakout is running parallel to the search operation.
For now, the focus remains squarely on the 62 who are still missing. The ongoing manhunt highlights the immense challenge faced by authorities in tracking a large number of individuals simultaneously, transforming a localized incident into a province-wide public safety concern.