Photo: RNZ
Fifteen remand prisoners who escaped from Bougainville's Buka police station cells early on Monday morning are still on the run.
They got out, according to the regional commander Jacklyn Pais, by using a hacksaw to saw through the iron bars on the window in the cell.
She believes the prisoners would have been sawing for weeks to get through the iron.
The remand prisoners include a number of people facing very serious charges, including murder, armed robbery and sex offences.
The Buka cells in the autonomous Papua New Guinea region serve as a remand facility for all of Bougainville.
Commander Pais said one prisoner was recaptured soon after the breakout while another four prisoners chose not to escape, because they were already facing charges for a previous escape.
Police had received reports of sightings of the prisoners on Tuesday morning but that has not led to any being recaptured as of Wednesday morning.
The Buka police commander, Emmart Tsimes, said he has almost his entire team out looking for the escapees.