Kayin State government Ethnic Myanmar Affairs Minister Tayza has confirmed to Mizzima that three jail breakers had been rearrested out of 41 convicts who escaped from Hpa-an prison in Kayin State.

“Just 3 have been rearrested while others are still at large but they will certainly be rearrested. They must be around this area. We have already blocked their escape routes. Staff from the departments concerned have blocked all bridges and roads,” he said.

The escape occurred on Sunday morning as prisoners seized a truck that had entered the prison.

"They attacked a prison officer, wounding him, and drove the truck out of the prison," local official Khin Thet Mar told AFP.

Citing conflicting reports from police and prison officers, she said the truck had either gone in to drop off sand and stone for construction, or to take out garbage from the facility.

The inmates drove through the prison gates, she said.

Khin Thet Mar warned locals to contact authorities if strangers appeared in their villages.

Photos showed one side of a large prison gate wrenched off its hinges by the force of the truck crashing through it.

The escaped convicts fled to Hlaingbwe Township via the Hpa-an-Hlaingbwe highway and Myanmar Police Force and local military units are jointly searching the area.

Additional reporting AFP