The public are being warned not to approach the two dangerous prisoners who escaped from Mt Eden prison in central Auckland today.
Police are not giving details about where they are focusing their search.
The pair are 32 year old Travis Burns who is described as Maori and 26 year old Tommy Nikau, who is described as Polynesian, and who was on remand on robbery and firearms possession charges.
Travis Burns stands accused of the murder of Joanne McCarthy in Whangaparaoa in 1998.
The case was due to come to trial in a few weeks' time.
The prisoners scrambled over a razor wire at the top of a wall to get away, using a rope made of knotted sheets.
The police aren't sure if a getaway car was used, or if the two men had accomplices.
They narrowly escaped being hit by a train as they made their way across a railway track beside the jail.
Bulletin supplied by IRN Limited © 2000 IRN Limited
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