Filipino inmates who escaped during Haiyan return
Nearly 600 fled when the jail's roof was blown off by typhoon, but about half have returned
Nearly half of the detainees who escaped from a flooded jail at the height of Typhoon Haiyan have returned, many after helping their families deal with the storm's aftermath.
There were nearly 600 detainees at the Leyte Provincial Jail when the typhoon flattened dozens of towns across the islands of Leyte and Samar on November 8.
The winds ripped off the roof of the prison, which houses detainees who are on trial, while gushing water from the mountains sent flash floods into the isolated complex near the ruined coastal town of Palo.
Prison guard Fidencio Abrea said all of the detainees escaped as head-high water forced them to clamber up the prison grilles and into stormy freedom, with no roof to contain them.
Abrea said the guards were themselves sheltering from the wind and powerful rains, so did not notice the mass escape.
But he said 251 prisoners had come back, and were now being housed in a section of the complex that suffered minor damage.
Returnees said their immediate concern after escaping was to check on or help loved ones, and that they came back because they did not want to ruin their chances of being exonerated at trial.