Helicopter jailbreak in Que.

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

A Public Security bus sits behind barbed wire at the Orsainville detention centre in Quebec City Thursday, July 22, 2010. Quebec Provincial Police say three inmates have escaped from the Orsainville Detention Centre in Quebec City with the help of a green-coloured helicopter. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

UPDATED 8:30 A.M.

The search has widened for three Quebec inmates who used a helicopter to escape from jail on Saturday evening.

Quebec provincial police say they have alerted authorities across the province and elsewhere.

Sgt. Ann Mathieu says police are reluctant to provide many details about their investigation for fear the escapees could be monitoring media reports.

The men fled from the Orsainville Detention Centre in suburban Quebec City shortly before 8 p.m. with the help of a green-coloured helicopter.

The escapees have been identified as Yves Denis, 35, Denis Lefebvre, 53, and Serge Pomerleau, 49.

It's the second helicopter jailbreak in the province in just over a year.

There has been another jailbreak in Quebec involving a helicopter.

Quebec Provincial Police say three inmates have escaped from the Orsainville Detention Centre in Quebec City with the help of a green coloured helicopter.

Police have few details on the nature of the escape, but say the helicopter flew west from Orsainville.

Police have identified the escapees on Twitter as Yves Denis, Denis Lefebvre and Serge Pomerleau.

They say anyone who spots them should not approach them and immediately contact police.

It's the second time in just over a year that a helicopter was involved in a jailbreak.

In March, 2013, there was a daring escape at St-Jerome prison involving a helicopter where a pilot was forced at gunpoint to pluck two inmates from the facility on a quiet Sunday afternoon.

The two escapees and the two suspects who hijacked the chopper were caught by police within a few hours of the escape.