LOS ANGELES: An alleged killer and two other inmates escaped from a Southern California maximum-security jail by cutting through half-inch steel bars and rappelling from the roof by a makeshift rope, authorities said Saturday as they continued hunting for the men.

“It was very well-thought-out and planned,” Orange County sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Hallock said Saturday at a news conference. The inmates were last seen at 5 a.m. Friday at the Orange County Central Men’s Jail in Santa Ana, about 65 km from Los Angeles. They could have escaped any time between then and late Friday night.

“The inmates cut through half-inch steel bars to facilitate their escape,” Hallock said. They also cut through plumbing tunnels and finally made it to an unguarded area of the roof where they were able to rappel to the ground using some kind of makeshift rope, Hallock said.

They were last seen wearing orange jail jumpsuits, he said. The inmates were seen at a 5 a.m. inmate count and were discovered missing at the 8 p.m. count, Hallock said. Before the nighttime count, there was some kind of disturbance at the jail that may have been part of the escape plan, Hallock said.

It slightly delayed the discovery that the men were missing, he said. Earlier, Hallock said it was the first escape from the 900-inmate facility in 20 years.