Three Canadian Prisoners Escape in Helicopter: Police

A helicopter swooped into a Canadian prison and carried three prisoners away on Saturday evening, police said.

The men escaped from the prison in Orsainville just north of Quebec City, said Sgt. Audrey-Anne Bilodeau, a spokesperson for the Surete du Quebec, the provincial police force.

The Surete identified the men on its Twitter feed as Serge Pomerleau, 55; Yves Denis, 35; and Denis Lefebvre, 55.

Bilodeau said police were searching for a green helicopter with red and white markings that landed at the prison, though she didn't know whether it landed in a prison yard, on a building or nearby. She said it was last seen heading west from Quebec City.

She said a lone pilot was believed to have been aboard the copter when it arrived at the prison.

'There is a massive manhunt going on to try to locate them,' she said.

Airports were alerted to watch for the aircraft, and the military was helping in an air search, she said.

She said she was uncertain of the crimes the men had committed but said they had been sent to prison as a result of Operation Ecrevisse.

That investigation of drug trafficking led to the arrest of dozens of people on various charges.

First published June 7 2014, 7:46 PM

Gil Aegerter

Gil Aegerter is an editor-producer who came to NBC News in November 2007. Aegerter is responsible for reporting for NBC News’ investigations unit and in that role has written about online election fraud in Florida, encryption software for terrorists, solutions for glitches in the Obamacare website and financial woes of small towns that bought into the Prairie State coal-fired power plant in southern lllinois. Aegerter also serves as a news editor and producer of NBCNews.com’s cover.Aegerter joined NBCNews.com from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper, where he was news editor. In that role, Aegerter was responsible for editing, layout design and production of the news sections.Prior to his work at the Post-Intelligencer, he was news editor at the Wilmington Star-News, a New York Times-owned newspaper in Wilmington, N.C.; was a sports copy and layout editor at the San Diego Union; and was assistant news editor at the Anchorage Times in Alaska. He also was a researcher for NBC Sports for Olympic Games in Atlanta; Sydney, Australia; Salt Lake City; Athens; and Torino, Italy.Aegerter is a member of the Online News Association and the Society of Professional Journalists.A graduate of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Aegerter lives in Brier, Wash. He and his wife, a Zimbabwean native, have two children.

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