Lucknow, Aug 28 - Three inmates of the district jail in Uttar Pradesh's Gonda district escaped late Thursday evening, officials said Friday.

The three scaled the wall of the jail during iftar, the meal to break the daily fast during the Muslim month of Ramadan Thursday evening, but the escape was only discovered Friday morning when the jail authorities conducted the counting of the inmates.

Jail superintendent S.K.Srivastava said Ravi, Allauddin and Raj Kumar were found missing and police was informed after conducting a rigorous search in the jail premises.

According to police sources, the boundary wall of the jail was too low and the jail authorities have asked the government several times to raise its height.