Police are questioning workers at a maximum security prison in New York following the escape of two murderers.
"They needed the assistance of someone", Governor Andrew Cuomo told US television networks on Monday morning.
Hundreds
of employees and construction contractors are now being investigated to
determine if they provided the power tools used to escape.
"I don't believe they could have acquired the equipment they needed to do this without help," said Mr Cuomo.
Richard
Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, used power tools to break out of Clinton
Correctional Facility in Dannemora on Friday night.
The two men
cut through the steel back walls of their cell before clambering along a
catwalk to reach a series of pipes and tunnels, which they again cut
their way through.
The pair then climbed up through a manhole into a nearby street,
"disappearing into the darkness some 20 miles (30km) south of Canada",
said Mr Cuomo. The New York Post reported on Monday that a female employee has been questioned and removed from her post.
A
source tells the newspaper that Matt "has a way with the ladies" and
that this may have played a role in enlisting a female accomplice.
All
of the tools belonging to the prison have been accounted for "so far,"
acting state Corrections Commissioner Anthony Annucci told the
newspaper, leading investigators to believe the tools may have come from
outside the prison.
The breakout is the first escape from the prison, nicknamed "Little Siberia", in 150 years.
Governor
Cuomo said the age of the prison meant that outside builders frequently
enter the prison for renovation work, and that it's possible the tools
used were provided by one of them.
New York state is offering a $100,000 (£65,000) reward for information.
Matt was given a jail term of 25 years to life for beating a man to death in 1997.
Sweat was serving a life sentence without parole for the murder of Broome County Sheriff's Deputy, Kevin Tarsia.
Mr Tarsia's brother Steven said finding out that his killer had escaped "turns your world upside-down all over again".
Mr Cuomo toured the prison on Saturday and posted pictures of pipes
and walls with chunks cut out after he was shown the inmates' escape
route.
More than 250 officers are searching for the prisoners, using sniffer dogs and aerial surveillance.
They may have crossed the border into Canada or headed to another state, Mr Cuomo said.
There is "nothing to be afraid of" in Canada, Roland-Luc Beliveau, the mayor of Lacolle in Quebec told CTV on Monday.
"We're well-protected", he said.
What they did
David Sweat, 34, was serving a life
sentence without the possibility of parole for killing Sheriff's Deputy
Kevin Tarsia in 2002 after breaking into a home to steal firearms
Richard Matt, 48, was serving 25 years
for kidnapping, killing and dismembering his former boss, William
Rickerson, in 1997. He had previously escaped jail in 1986 while serving
time for assault
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