NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Nearly 300 inmates broke out of a jail in central India after overpowering the four guards at the facility, authorities reported early Monday.

The jailbreak happened Sunday in Dantewada, in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, the district's inspector-general's office reported.

Of the 377 inmates in the jail, 299 escaped, and no reinforcements arrived to search for the escapees for two hours, the inspector-general's office told CNN sister network CNN-IBN.

"The inmates attacked and overwhelmed the prison guards during lunch time," Chhattisgarh Home Minister Ramvichar Netam told CNN-IBN. "Apparently they took advantage of weak security."

Police have closed the state's borders and were on high alert throughout the region, but the search was complicated by difficult communications in the area, Netam said. E-mail to a friend

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