Auckland prisoner van escape: Woman tells of surviving hijack attempt

Mt Eden Corrections Facility in Auckland. Photo / Michael Craig

A young woman was left “paralysed” with fear after one of the three prisoners who escaped a prison van in Auckland on Friday afternoon attempted to hijack her car.

The woman, 18, who has asked to remain anonymous, told the Herald she and her boyfriend, who was driving at the time, were in bumper-to-bumper traffic near the Ellerslie-Panmure Highway off-ramp heading north when three men jumped out of a transport van next to them.

One of the men, who she described as being “covered in face tattoos,” jumped into the back seat of their car before yelling “go, go, go, go!”.

“I just had a full-on panic attack,” she said. “We were really scared.

“I was fully paralysed and I didn’t know what to do.”

She said the man hadn’t managed to close the door of their car before they swerved into the truck lane to the left and sped off as fast as they could causing the man to fall out onto the road.

“He couldn’t get the door shut and couldn’t get his legs in at that speed so just fell out,” she said. “We didn’t know what to do so we just kept driving.

“The other two men just ran off on their own over the train tracks.”

Police say the men went on to steal another member of the public’s vehicle after escaping about 2.40 pm when the transport van was heading north towards the Mt Eden Corrections Facility - and a manhunt remains underway.

“Police have since been notified and our staff are making inquiries to locate these individuals, including support from the Police Air Support Unit, Eagle,” Police Tāmaki Makaurau director of deployment Shanan Gray said.

A Corrections spokesperson said police were informed immediately and are actively searching for them.

“We encourage anyone with information about the prisoners’ location to contact Police on 111.

“Public safety is our top priority. Any escape is unacceptable and an immediate review into how this incident occurred will be carried out.”