Prison worker killed and several others taken hostage by inmates at Russian penal colony

Prisoners at a Russian maximum security penal colony have killed one staff member and took others hostage, Russian state media reported Friday.

Inmates captured correctional facility staff at a disciplinary commission meeting, Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia told state media outlet TASS. The incident took place at penal colony IK-19 in in the town of Surovikino, in Russia’s southern Volgograd region.

“At a meeting of the disciplinary commission (where cases of malicious violators are considered, among other things) of the colony, several prisoners seized employees,” the penitentiary service said, according to TASS.

At least three prisoners participated in the attack, according to TASS, and a hostage rescue operation is underway.

Video circulating on Russian social media appears to show four prison staff members taken hostage, one of whom is covered in blood. Three hostage takers can be seen, with one of them holding a knife. CNN has not verified the footage.

The incident follows another hostage situation in Russia in June, when two employees of a pre-trial detention center in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don were rescued after being held hostage for several hours by six detainees.

The detainees had links to Islamic State and were killed in the operation.

This is a developing story. More follows…