Death row inmates arrested after a week on the run in Vietnam

Vietnamese police have arrested two death row convicts who escaped from a Hanoi prison a week ago.

Nguyen Van Tinh, 28, was arrested in Hoa Binh Province which neighbors the capital in the early hours of Sunday.

His accomplice Le Van Tho, 37, was arrested eight hours earlier while taking a taxi in Hai Duong Province, around an hour's drive from Hanoi.

Le Van Tho (L) and Nguyen Van Tinh in photos provided by the police

Tinh was sentenced to death in April for heroin trafficking. Tho received the death penalty in May for drug trafficking, murder and fraud. Both have appealed their sentences.

They shared a cell in Thanh Oai District on the outskirts of Hanoi which they broke out of on the night of September 10 during heavy downpours.

An investigation found they managed to unlock their cuffs, make a hole in the wall of their cell and climb out of the prison using rope.

They took a motorbike from a relative in Hanoi and fled the city, and were first spotted in Ha Long three nights later.

Vietnam’s top prosecutors have ordered an investigation into the role the prison guards played in the breakout.