Forty-four inmates escaped from a prison last Saturday in the district of Alto Mulócuè, in Zambézia province.

According to the Penitentiary Service authorities in the province, four have already been captured and another died after being shot. One officer was injured.

Reports to STV that it happened when the officers on duty that day wanted to serve water to the inmates in a pavilion where the liquid doesn't flow.

According to the Director of Penitentiary Services in Zambézia, Álvaro Arnança, the inmate population should not be deprived of the right to have water, and the authorities have offered to provide it.

He said that the public water supply network is deficient, supplying water intermittently, once every two days. "Every other day. On the 27th, water wasn't coming out at district level".

Inside the prison there is a hand-dug well for drawing water, and when some officers went to provide the liquid, the inmates decided to escape, explained Álvaro Arnança.