In a scene straight out of an action film, two inmates used a rope lowered from a hijacked helicopter to escape from a Quebec maximum security prison.
A March 18 AP release stated two inmates were recaptured today after taking over a helicopter on Sunday. The prisoners exchanged gunfire, led local police on a wild chase and eventually were confined after taking shelter in a rural cabin outside Montreal.
The helicopter pilot, who was forced at gunpoint to drop the inmates off 53 miles (85 kilometers) away, was not charged and is being treated for shock at a local hospital.
Quebec provincial police spokesman Benoit Richard said Monday that police followed the helicopter until it landed, then pursued the inmates until they arrived at the cabin.
"When they got out of their vehicle they started shooting at police officers," Richard said.
Inmates Benjamin Hudon-Barbeau, 36, and Danny Provencal, 33, were arrested at the cabin after police established a security perimeter around the building.
A Montreal radio station, 98.5 FM, said it received a call Sunday from a man claiming to be Hudon-Barbeau, who said he was barricaded in the cabin and "ready to die.”
"The way they're treating me in there, it's unreal," the man told the radio station. "They won't let me be. They put me back in prison for nothing."
Richard said the charges could include attempted murder, hijacking an aircraft, evasion, possession of restricted weapons and breaking and entering. The suspects are to appear in court Monday afternoon.
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