Police investigate sightings of escaped prisoners in New York

(Reuters) Police using dogs and air support converged on a town in western New York state on Saturday (June 20) to investigate a possible sighting of two convicted murderers who escaped a maximum-security prison two weeks ago, a police spokesman said.

New York State police shut off roads and searched cars near the town of Friendship close to the border with Pennsylvania, as police helicopters flew patrols overhead.

Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, on June 6th, cutting through steel walls, squeezing through a steam pipe and popping out of a manhole.

Since their escape there have been various reported sightings of the pair hundreds of miles from the prison as they have eluded capture despite a massive manhunt.

Both of the escapees had been serving sentences for murder.

The longest previous escape from a New York prison lasted just three days, according to data from the New York Department of Corrections. In the last decade, freedom lasted less than six hours for 60 percent of the 30 inmates who succeeded in breaking out.

The U.S. Marshals Service has put Matt and Sweat on its 15 Most Wanted Fugitives List. The manhunt, now in its 14th day, has widened to encompass the entire country. But many believe the escapees remain in the heavily wooded regions of New York’s Adirondack Mountains and Vermont’s Green Mountains.