Massive manhunt launched for three men who fled prison in fareastern Russia

Security forces have launched a massive manhunt for three murder convicts who escaped from a prison colony in Russia's fareastern Primorsky region on Monday, officials said.

The convicts, who had been serving prison terms ranging from 15 to 25 years at the colony in the town of Ussuriysk, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Russia's fareastern port of Vladivostok, climbed the barbed wire fence before dawn on Monday.

An alarm went off, alerting the guards who shot at the prisoners but missed them, said Vyacheslav Postnov, a deputy chief of the regional prison security department of Russia's Interior Ministry.

One of the escaped convicts, who had been imprisoned for killing a police officer, already had fled in 2003 but was captured shortly after his escape.