WASHINGTON, May 17, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Ten prisoners escaped a New Orleans jail early Friday after breaking through a wall behind a toilet, law enforcement said, slipping away without being detected until hours later.

A manhunt is underway in the tourist hub, the southern state of Louisiana's largest city, for nine fugitives who police say "are considered to be armed and dangerous."

One inmate is back in custody after being found hiding under a car in a tourist area Friday morning.

Shortly after midnight (0500 GMT), the inmates broke through a wall behind a toilet, worked their way through the jail, then jumped over an enclosure wall, escaping the facility undetected until 8:30 am.

That's when a headcount revealed they were gone.

At first, law enforcement erroneously said 11 inmates had escaped, but the number was later revised to 10.

Media reports said some of the men are accused of murder, and circulated a photograph of the inside of a cell after the escape.

The photo showed a rectangular hole leading out of a cell, the wall above it scrawled with obscene graffiti that says "we innocent," "we out" and "to (sic) easy."