The incident took place during the early hours of Sunday morning, with a prison guard union saying it was the result of a “dramatic shortage” of manpower.

The union estimates that jails across the country are currently short of around 1,200 guards, a situation they say has been repeatedly raised with government officials over the past eight years.
The Chilean prisoners who escaped from the Caxias prison, on the outskirts of Lisbon, on Sunday, have meanwhile been recaptured.
“The General Directorate of Reintegration and Prison Services (DGRSP) confirms that one of the prisoners of Chilean nationality who escaped from the Caxias Prison Facility yesterday is in custody, and every effort is being made to recapture the two other escapees,” the public relations director of the Directorate told Lusa News Agency.
The online edition of the Expresso newspaper then reported that two of the three prisoners had been caught, at Madrid airport.
On Sunday the DGRSP said the three prisoners escaped through the window of their cell, which was occupied by four prisoners.
In a statement, the DGRSP said the escapees were two Chilean citizens, aged 29 and 30, and one Portuguese 30-year-old prisoner and that “all of them were in custody awaiting trial for theft and robbery in separate criminal cases.”