MORE than 100 inmates escaped from a prison and at least one was killed in a shootout in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, officials said today.

This came after the inmates were temporarily moved out of their cells following mild earthquake tremors.

Kashif Abbasi, a senior police official, said that 216 inmates fled the prison in the capital of Sindh province before dawn. Of those, 78 had been recaptured.

One prisoner was killed and three security officials were wounded in the ensuing shootout, but the situation has been brought under control, Mr Abbasi said, saying that police are conducting raids to capture the remaining escapees.

Ziaul Hassan, the home minister of Sindh province, said the jailbreak occurred after prisoners were evacuated from their cells for safety during the earthquake. The inmates were still outside of the cells when a group suddenly attacked guards, seized their weapons, opened fire and fled.

Prison breaks are not common in Pakistan, where authorities have enhanced security since 2013 when the Pakistani Taliban freed more than 200 inmates in an attack on a prison in the north western district of Dera Ismail Khan.

Karachi has experienced several mild and shallow earthquakes in recent days, ranging from 2.6 to 3.4 in magnitude, according to the National Seismic Monitoring Centre.