Forty-two mentally ill patients who had broken out of a hospital in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region were found and sent back on Saturday, China Central Television reported.

At about 8 pm on Friday, seven mentally ill patients in the No 3 People's Hospital of Tengxian county, Wuzhou city, attacked medical staff and demanded to be released.

According to Hu Chaoyuan, deputy director of the hospital, the seven patients were present by order of the police. After they escaped, other patients followed suit, he said.

More than 400 people from the hospital as well as the local public security department and health authorities were mobilized to search for the escapees, two of whom had criminal records.

An unidentified source in the hospital was quoted as saying that crowded wards and a bad environment as well as the lack of security staff triggered the incident.