SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (CNN) -- Five inmates escaped Monday from a maximum security prison in Puerto Rico via a helicopter that had been hijacked by two accomplices, police said.
The two rented the helicopter in San Juan and hired a pilot, saying they were engineers who wanted to survey some roads, police said. They then forced the pilot at gunpoint to fly them to maximum security prison Las Cucharas in Ponce, on the southern part of the island.
The aircraft landed in the middle of a high-security area at the prison, where four inmates quickly got on and a fifth held onto the railing as the helicopter was taking off, police said.
The hijackers forced the pilot to fly to Jayuya, in the north-central part of the island, where the helicopter landed and all seven fled, according to CNN affiliate WLII.
Police said the seven remain at large.