The whereabouts of two young Maltese men jailed in Tunisia are still unknown after a massive breakout from the prison where they were being held.

A Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman confirmed the breakout at Messadine prison in Sousse had happened although information on when and how was scant.

The Maltese Embassy in Tunis, where the situation continued to deteriorate, had no information about the whereabouts of Thomas Camilleri and Glenn Paul Xuereb, both 22, who were arrested last July and charged with drug trafficking.

“The two have not made any contact with the embassy and it has been impossible for the embassy to get in touch witthe prison authorities,” the spokesman said.

The two men have not even made contact with their families either, according to Joe Camilleri, Thomas’s father.

Mr Camilleri said the families had been continuously in touch with the embassy in Tunis since Saturday to ask about their children’s whereabouts.

“The embassy told us it was impossible to get in touch with the prison. I last saw the children was when I visited on Tuesday last week and they were fine,” Mr Camilleri said.

Given the turmoil in Tunisia and the fact they had no money, he hoped they were still in prison, which was possibly a safer environment than the streets.

According to the little information available, it seems the prison cells were unlocked and inmates were allowed to escape.

Someone even uploaded photos of the breakout on Facebook, showing inmates hanging from windows outside the prison walls.

The two Maltese men face charges of attempting to smuggle 70 kilograms of cannabis into Malta.

The two denied any wrongdoing and are awaiting trial.

For some time last year, the Messadine prison, located about 160 kilometres south of Tunis, also housed online journalist and human rights activist Zouhaïer Makhlouf, who was arrested on a charge of causing harm by means of the telecommunications network. He was found guilty of taking photos in an industrial estate without the permission of the people photographed.

Turmoil persisted yesterday after five ministers resigned from Tunisia’s national unity government just a day after it was formed, as street protests against functionaries of ousted President Zine Abidine Ben Ali continued.

The national unity govern-ment that was formed by Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi announced on Monday political prisoners would be released and press restrictions would be lifted. However, this did not quell the unrest as protestors asked for the removal of President Ben Ali’s old guard. Mr Ghannouchi was criticised for having retained members of the old regime in key Cabinet posts.

Those who resigned were representatives of the opposition. Under Mr Ben Ali’s 23-year rule, all opposition was repressed and key figures were either arrested or exiled. Later on in the day, Mr Ghannouchi and interim President Foued Mebazaa, the former Speaker of Parliament, announced they had resigned from the ruling RCD party, insisting all ministers had “clean hands”.

The situation in Tunisia remained fragile according to Foreign Minister Tonio Borg, who played down criticism by human rights groups in Europe that Malta and other Mediterranean EU states were soft on President Ben Ali’s hard line rule.

Outlining Malta’s foreign policy direction, Dr Borg said rather than imposing its brand of democracy on Tunisia, the EU had to engage the country.

He said Malta did not agree with everything the former Tunisian government had done.

“It is easy for some in northern Europe to call for all relations with Tunisia to be severed but the problems there affect the whole region. We prefer to engage with our neighbours rather than ostracise them,” he said.

Alternattiva Demokratika said it was shameful the Party of European Socialists and the Party of European Christian Democrats had blocked a Green Party demand for a resolution of the European Parliament on the situation in Tunisia.

AD’s spokesman on EU affairs, Arnold Cassola said he had personally experienced the brutality of the Tunisian Secret Service in December 2007 when he was prevented from holding a press conference in Tunis with the Tunisian Green Party.