3 inmates escape after helicopter lands in Quebec prison yard

Three inmates — including two charged with murder — took off in a helicopter that landed inside the prison yard of their detention center on Saturday.

The men — identified as Yves Denis, 35, Denis Lefebvre, 53, and Serge Pomerleau, 49 — escaped from the Orsainville Detention Centre in suburban Quebec City, The Associated Press reports. Denis, Lefebvre, and Pomerleau were originally arrested on drug trafficking and gangsterism charges in 2010, police say, and Denis and Lefebvre were later charged with murder.

Authorities released photos of the men to both ask for tips on their whereabouts and to warn the public to stay away if they spot the escapees. A similar jailbreak happened in March 2013, when a helicopter pilot was forced at gunpoint to fly to the St-Jerome prison in Quebec, where two inmates climbed aboard via a rope ladder. The escapees and the helicopter hijackers were apprehended a few hours later.

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