Crazy Videos Of The Greek Prison Break Attempt That Involved A Helicopter

This Sunday Greece saw one of the craziest jail break attempts we've ever heard of, with a gang trying to use a helicopter to free a convicted murderer from a prison courtyard.

Some details of the attempt, from Sky News:

• The criminals had chartered a helicopter carrying two armed passengers, a pilot and a technician.
• They were hoping to free convicted killer Panagiotis Vlastos.
• This was apparently the fourth attempt to free Vlastos. Three other unnamed criminals were also involved.
• At first the crew tried to rip off the chicken-wire fence surrounding the prison with a hook on a rope.
• The gunmen used AK47 assault rifles to shoot at the guards. It's believed they fired at least 500 bullets.
• Improvised explosive devices were also found on board, though not used.
• Guards shot Vlastos, causing him to fall 10 feet to the ground.
• The helicopter went down too, and everyone on board was arrested.

Pretty wild. Apparently the attempt would probably have been successful, if it were not for a tip-off given to police authorities that Vlastos would try to escape.

Luckily for us, locals captured some of the scenes.

This video shows the attack from a distance. You can clearly see the helicopter and hear the gunfire, and see when the helicopter is brought down:

This video shows the helicopter after it has been brought down, apparently sitting in the prison's car park.

A final video has been published by Greek police. It shows the damage to the helicopter, as well as the weaponry the police found on board:

Incredibly this isn't the first time that helicopters have been used in a Greek prison break — similar attempts in 2006 and 2009 were successful.