US man escapes from Bali prison

An American man jailed for drugs offences escaped from a prison in Indonesia's Bali island on Monday, authorities said.

Christian Beasley, 32, sawed through the ceiling, climbed a wall with a ladder and went down through the other side using a rope, prison official Tony Nainggolan told Efe news.

Another American citizen, Paul Anthony Hoffman, serving jail term for theft, tried to escape at the same time but was caught by the security guards.

The jail authorities are investigating where the escaped prisoner got the ladder and the rope.

The police had arrested Beasley in August for possessing around five grams of hashish.

Kerobokan prison houses more than 1,300 inmates, three times its capacity. Jailbreaks are common in Indonesia, where most facilities are overcrowded and do not have enough security personnel.

--IANS

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