Inmates remain at large after breaking out of Rome prison.

A police manhunt is in operation in the greater Rome area for two prisoners who broke out of the city's Rebibbia jail during the evening of 14 February.

The inmates, who include a convicted murderer and are described as “very dangerous”, remain at large after evading capture for a second night.

The pair escaped after sawing through window bars and scaling the prison wall using an improvised rope made from knotted sheets, before fleeing by foot on Via Tiburtina in the northeast Rebibbia suburb.

They made their escape while attending a workshop at a new prison area, which was staffed by just two guards at the time and whose alarm system did not work, according to Italian news agency ANSA.

Police are continuing with road blocks and bus checks around Rome in an attempt to catch the two who are named as Catalin Ciobanu and Mihai Florin Diaconescu, aged 33 and 28 respectively, from Romania.