2 killers escape from maximum security prison in upstate New York

wo convicted murderers escaped from a maximum security prison in upstate New York by cutting through a steel wall and following a series of tunnels until they emerged from a manhole outside the prison walls, New York authorities said Saturday afternoon,.

Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, were discovered missing at the 5:30 a.m. Saturday "standing count" of inmates at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York State Police said on the agency's Facebook page.

An intense manhunt is under way with more than 200 law enforcement officers looking for the men -- the first to escape from the maximum security portion of the prison, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a press conference.

"These are dangerous people," he said. "They are nothing to be trifled with."

The prisoners apparently were last seen at 10:30 p.m. Friday during a standing count, authorities said.

Richard Matt

David Sweat

Head counts are performed every two hours throughout the night when guards visually check to see if inmates are in their bunks, Clinton Correctional Facility Supervisor Steven Racette said.

Matt and Sweat tricked the guards by arranging things in the bunks to look "like people were sleeping ... with these sweatshirt hoodies on," the governor said. The inmates were discovered missing at the 5:30 a.m. inmate count.

The mentt had side-by-side cells and apparently had obtained power tools to cut through the steel wall in their cells, authorities said.

The men followed a catwalk "down an elaborate maze of pipes into tunnels and exited a series of tunnels at the manhole cover," Cuomo said.

Prison officials took Cuomo through the escape route.

"It was elaborate, it was sophisticated," he said. "It involved drilling through steel walls, steel pipes."

Authorities don't know how the prisoners got the power tools. Clinton Correctional Facility was built in 1845 and undergoes regular maintenance, so it's possible the tools came from the contractors and workmen who are often inside the facility, Cuomo said.