Helicopter rescues of prisoners seem to be popular in Greece, and for the most part they prove successful. This was not the case for Panagiotis Vlastos.

Greek killer Vlastos made his fourth attempt to escape the Trikala Athens prison on Sunday. A helicopter flew above the prison courtyard and after failing to pull down the fences with a hook and rope, two men armed with AK-47s in the helicopter decided to remove Vlastos with the rope itself. This attempt to flea the grounds of the prison ended in embarrassment, as Vlastos was shot and woudned during the “escape” and the chopper was forced to land in the prison’s parking lot.

43 year old Vlatos fell from three metres and is being treated for leg wounds in the prison’s hospital. Authorities claimed over 500 rounds were fired from the pilot and passenger in the helicopter during the “rescue”. The Ministry of Justice also released a statement saying that the gunmen were also holding “improvised explosive devices” on board, though they did not use them in therescue attempt.

Kostas Argirousis, journalist on the scene said:

The helicopter has been seriously damaged, it has been hit with more than 300 bullets, not only from external gaurd of the of prison, but also from Greek police which had taken up positions on the land surrounding the prison…

It is still not known if the passengers in the chopper were forced or willing participants in the saga.

Although, they were plenty willing to fire 500 rounds from automatic rifles.

[Source:Dailymail]