Ten prisoners have been killed during an uprising at a Haitian prison while 16 others have escaped the facility in Les Cayes, southwest of Port-au-Prince.
"The national battalion force managed to prevent a massive escape attempt without opening fire by surrounding the building and persuading the prisoners," Julio Micak, a communications officer for Uruguay's army, said on Thursday.
Some 1,162 Uruguayan soldiers participate in a United Nations peacekeeping force in Haiti, which was hit last week by a massive earthquake that devastated the capital.
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Forces 'didn't open fire'
Though Micak said forces did not open fire during the riot, he said the uprising at the prison of some 470 detainees left "10 dead and 16 fugitives".
He said a search was underway for the escaped convicts.
Uruguayan soldiers intervened "in support of the Haitian police and the United Nations," he added.
Uruguay is one of the biggest contributors to the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH, along with Brazil, which has some 1,300 soldiers deployed in the force.
The main prison in Port-au-Prince, far larger than the one in Les Cayes, was virtually destroyed by the 7.0-magnitude quake on January 12, and officials said almost all of the estimated 4,000 prisoners there escaped.
