Athens, Feb 25 (IANS): The attempt of a group of prisoners to escape by helicopter in central Greece has failed, the authorities said.
Prison guards Sunday fired at the helicopter which approached the prison complex at Trikala, as Panayotis Vlastos, a notorious convict serving life time term for criminal activities was climbing up a rope ladder, reported Xinhua citing media reports.
Vlastos was injured during a gun battle and has been transferred to hospital. The convict has escaped prisons twice in recent years.
In 2011, he played a leading role in another failed attempt at Korydallos prison at Piraeus port, when a group of inmates had held two dozens guards and visitors as hostages.
In 2006 and in 2009, two other notorious convicts managed to escape from Korydallos prison, the country's maximum security prison, twice by helicopter.