Guards freed in prison hostage drama
Two prison guards taken captive after a failed escape attempt were freed today, nearly 24 hours after being taken hostage.
One of two armed prisoners holding the guards at the high-security Fresnes prison, south of Paris, surrendered, according to police. The second remained holed up.
There were no immediate details on how the prison guards, taken hostage on Sunday afternoon, were freed.
A third guard was critically injured by three bullets when gunfire broke out during the escape attempt, and was operated on overnight at a nearby hospital.
Authorities had continued tense negotiations throughout the night.
Some 60 members of a crack police squad were posted inside the prison. With the guards freed, the likelihood that the highly trained police team would move into action increased.
Meanwhile, police were searching for accomplices who hijacked a helicopter and flew over the Fresnes prison courtyard on Sunday afternoon, dropping weapons inside and causing chaos.
Police found the helicopter abandoned at a sports stadium near the town of Fresnes, with blood stains inside it, police said.
The two prisoners who took the hostages were equipped with a bulletproof vest, an automatic pistol and a Kalashnikov, according to officials.
The prefect of the Val-de-Marne region Pierre Mirabaud, state prosecutor Michel Barrau and a negotiator from the crack police squad RAID led the negotiations.
The wife of at least one of the hostages-takers tried overnight to coax the pair to give up.
At one point last night, there were fears of a massive riot among the 1,800 prisoners at Fresnes, some 300 of whom refused at one point to return to their cells and called for a revolt.
Prisoners were returned to their cells by 2am, prison officials said.
