Prisoners escaped on Friday from the penitentiary

At least 159 inmates escaped from a prison in the northeastern Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo on Friday in one of the country's biggest jail breaks in recent years. Between January and September, an estimated 200 prisoners have escaped from prisons in Tamaulipas, where Nuevo Laredo is located, according to the state public security officials.

Tamaulipas state security chief Antonio Garza told local radio that the prison's director was reported as missing, along with the inmates. Investigators have said the inmates left through a service entrance for vehicles and were helped by someone in the prison staff.

The escape from the facility in the north-eastern Mexican city - which lies just across the Rio Grande river from the city of Laredo in the US state of Texas - was one of the biggest in Mexico in recent years.

The border area has been the scene of rising lawlessness as drug cartels battle it out among themselves for lucrative smuggling routes into the United States, and with Mexican police and military.

After news of the break, extra police and troops were brought in to reinforce security at the prison.

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