Two escaped prisoners were still at large this evening after they escaped from the custody of the Prison Service in Roscommon on Tuesday afternoon.
The brothers had been temporarily released on compassionate grounds to attend a funeral home to view the remains of a deceased relative.
Both had been serving three-year sentences at Castlerea prison on separate assault charges.
The men were being escorted by prison officers at Smyth's funeral home on Mart Road in Roscommon town when an incident involving up to 40 other people occurred at around 2pm.
Both men are understood to have absconded through a back door of the funeral home.
“Gardaí were immediately notified and the Irish Prisons Service has initiated its own investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident,” a Prison Service spokesman said.
Gardaí confirmed this evening they had launched a manhunt for the men.
A total of 122 prisoners escaped or absconded from open prisons or while on accompanied outings with prison officers in 2008, according to the Prison Service's annual report for 2008.
Some 92 of those who absconded were back in custody by the end of the year.