Manhunt launched in US tourist hub New Orleans after 10 escape jail

Ten prisoners escaped a New Orleans jail early May 16 after breaking through a wall behind a toilet, law enforcement said, slipping away without being detected until hours later. Photo / AFP, Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office

• Ten prisoners escaped a New Orleans jail by breaking through a wall behind a toilet.
• A manhunt is under way for nine fugitives, who are considered armed and dangerous.
• One inmate was recaptured, who was found hiding under a car in a tourist area.

Ten prisoners escaped a New Orleans jail early on Friday (local time) after breaking through a wall behind a toilet, law enforcement said, slipping away without being detected until hours later.

A manhunt is under way in the tourist hub – the title="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/louisiana/">southern state of Louisiana‘s largest city – for nine fugitives who police say “are considered to be armed and dangerous”.

One inmate is back in custody after being found hiding under a car in a tourist area later in the morning.

Shortly after midnight (5pm Friday NZT), the inmates broke through a wall behind a toilet, worked their way through the jail and then jumped over an enclosure wall, escaping the facility undetected until 8.30am. At that time a headcount revealed they were gone.

At first, law enforcement erroneously said 11 inmates had escaped, but the number was later revised to 10.

Media reports said some of the men are accused of murder, and circulated a photograph of the inside of a cell after the escape.

The photo showed a rectangular hole leading out of a cell, the wall above it scrawled with obscene graffiti that says “we innocent”, “we out” and “to [sic] easy”.

- Agence France-Presse