A helicopter prison escape was foiled today by guards at a Greek prison.
According to ABC , a helicopter with armed men on board tired to help a convicted killer escape the Trikala prison in Greece. The people aboard the helicopter initially tried to tear down one of the chicken wire prison walls with a large hook. When that didn’t work they decided to pick up prisoner Panagiotis Vlastos with a rope ladder.
The Herald Whig reports that a man on the helicopter used an AK-47 to shoot at prison guards while another person on the aircraft lowered a rope into the prison yard. The plan almost worked, too. Vlastos was able to climb the rope and board the helicopter.
The escape plan was foiled, however, when one of the guards managed to shoot the 43-year-old prisoner. Vlastos fell back into the courtyard and the aircraft was forced to land.
Authorities said that the helicopter was charted from a western Athens suburb and was scheduled to fly to Thessaloniki, in northern Greece. The helicopter, which had two armed men as well as a pilot on board, deviated from its path and headed for the Trikala prison. Police are not sure yet if the pilot was in on the escape plan or if the gunmen forced him to fly to the prison.
The Ministry of Justice said that more than 500 bullets were fired during the attack. Officials also found “improvised explosive devices” on the helicopter.
A helicopter prison escape may sound like something straight out of the movies but Greece has apparently witnesses a few action movie escape attempts. Vassilis Paleokostas and Alket Rizajhave escaped Greece prisons on two separate occasions by using a helicopter. Rizajhave is currently behind bars but Paleokostas is still at large.