Eight inmates escaped from the District Prison in Dunai, the district headquarters of Dolpa, by digging a tunnel inside the facility on Friday night, police said. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Anilraj Giri of the District Police Office, Dolpa, confirmed that the prisoners fled after digging the tunnel, in a breakout that saw eight of the 17 inmates held at the jail disappear overnight. A police team led by DSP Giri reached the prison after receiving information about the incident, while Chief District Officer Hamal said she was reviewing closed-circuit television footage as the first facts of the case began to emerge.

Eight of 17 inmates flee through tunnel

The scale of the escape stands out relative to the size of the facility. The district prison in Dunai held 17 inmates at the time of the incident, and eight of them, close to half of the total prison population, managed to flee through a tunnel dug from inside the jail. According to reports published by Nagarik News and RatoPati, DSP Giri confirmed the breakout, stating that the prisoners fled after digging the tunnel during the night.

The prison is located in Dunai, the administrative headquarters of Dolpa, one of Nepal's most remote and high-altitude districts in Karnali Province. The district is the largest in the country by area while being among the least populated, with settlements dispersed across difficult mountain terrain where movement typically involves flights or long overland journeys. Those geographic realities shape how quickly security forces can respond to incidents in places such as Dunai, and the fact that the escape was carried out through a tunnel dug within the prison itself has added to the seriousness with which officials are treating the case.

Police team reaches prison as investigation begins

News of the breakout drew a rapid response from the authorities. The District Police Office, Dolpa, received information about the incident, after which a police team led by DSP Giri reached the prison in Dunai. The team's arrival marked the start of the official response to the escape, which came to light after the eight inmates had already fled on Friday night.

Officials have, however, been cautious about releasing information. DSP Giri said further details of the incident will become clear only after a detailed investigation and an on-site inspection of the prison. As a result, several basic questions remained unanswered in the immediate aftermath of the escape:

  • The exact route of the tunnel and the point at which it exited the prison
  • How long the inmates took to dig the tunnel and what tools were used
  • Whether prison staff noticed any unusual activity before or during the escape
  • The identities of the eight escapees and the cases for which they had been detained

Police have not yet said whether any of the escapees have been traced since Friday night.

CCTV footage under review

At the district administration, attention has turned to the surveillance records of the jail. Chief District Officer Hamal said she was reviewing closed-circuit television footage from the prison. The review is expected to help establish the sequence of events inside the facility on Friday night, including when the inmates moved and whether any part of the digging or the breakout was captured on camera. The footage could also indicate whether the movement of the inmates went unnoticed by those on duty at the prison that night.

The examination of the footage runs alongside the on-site inspection that police have said must precede any fuller account of the escape. Together, the two exercises are expected to determine how the tunnel was dug without detection, how the eight inmates left the facility, and what security lapses, if any, allowed the breakout to succeed. Ajako Artha also carried news of the escape, citing the confirmation from the District Police Office.

What comes next for Dunai prison

With eight inmates gone, the prison in Dunai is left with nine of the 17 it held before Friday night, while the investigation into the tunnel escape gets under way. For the police and the district administration in Dolpa, the immediate priority is to establish the circumstances in which the tunnel was dug and to account for the eight prisoners who remain at large.

Further details, including the findings of the on-site inspection and the review of the CCTV footage, are expected to be made public once the detailed investigation into the incident progresses.