Scene dalam penjara.
The Way Back.
Three prisoners have escaped a Belgian jail in a hijacked helicopter - but left one of their accomplices behind, apparently for lack of space.
Usually only police helicopters are seen landing within prison walls
The escapees fled the prison, near the city of Bruges in Belgium, on Thursday.
They then flew to the town of Aalter, where they seized a black Mercedes from a female driver and robbed a service station before heading for the Belgian coast, media reports said.
One of the accomplices who flew the helicopter was left behind at the prison, apparently due to a lack of room in the helicopter, the Belga news agency said.
No-one was hurt in the incident, which did not involve prisoners from the high-security wing.
But all three escapees - bank robber Ashraf Sekkaki, Mohammed Johry and Abdel Had Kahjary Mulloul - are all repeat offenders, prosecutors in Bruges said.
They include one of Belgium's most dangerous criminals, Ashraf Sekkaki, who has more than 16 convictions for violence, including kidnappings for ransom.
It is not the first time a helicopter has been used for an escape in Belgium.
In October 2007, Nordin Benallal, a self-styled "escape king" with convictions for armed robbery and carjacking, broke out of Ittre prison south of Brussels after armed accomplices landed there in a hijacked helicopter.
The helicopter was immediately rushed by other prisoners and crashed.
Benallal and his cohorts then seized two prison warders as hostages and fled in a car parked nearby.
He was recaptured in the Netherlands three days later.
Earlier the same year, Frenchman Erik Ferdinand escaped in a hijacked helicopter from Lantin prison near Liege.
He was arrested several weeks later in Italy.



A convicted fraudster escaped from a high security jail in Germany after climbing into a cardboard box and posting himself to freedom.
Max Friedener, 28, escaped from prison in Darmstadt after hiding in the box in the mailroom. He escaped from the mail van as it was driving away.
The escape was only noticed when the mail truck arrived at the sorting depot and the hole in the box was spotted.
It is the second time a convict has earned a ticket to ride by using the mail system.
Only last month a convict in neighbouring Austria escaped from Graz prison by posting himself out in a large box that was supposed to contain lamp post parts. Both escapees are still at large.
Related post: news, prison, escape, belgium, crimeBRUSSELS, Belgium — Two men hijacked a helicopter Sunday and forced the pilot to land in a prison courtyard, where they picked up an inmate in a dramatic jailbreak, the pilot told Belgian television.
The accomplices paid for a helicopter ride at an airstrip near the city of Sint-Truiden, about 40 miles east of Brussels, saying they were tourists from Marseilles in southern France, pilot Eric Mathieu told the RTL-TVI network.
After takeoff, they produced a pistol and hand-grenade, ordering Mathieu to fly to Lantin prison outside nearby Liege.
"They pointed a revolver at my forehead," Mathieu told RTBF television. "The prison yard was so small, at first I refused to land there, but they threatened to kill me, so I had to do it."
Mathieu said he touched down while about 200 prisoners were exercising in the yard. One climbed on board while his accomplices threw tear gas canisters into the crowd.
The helicopter then landed less than a half-mile from the prison, where the three men got in a waiting car and drove away, VRT television news said.
RTL-TVI identified the fugitive as a Frenchman who was in pretrial detention on charges of fraud and theft. RTBF said he had previously escaped from prisons in France and Spain.