Bali: Police were forced to hold off an investigation to ensure four prison escapees, including Australian Shaun Davidson, were not still trapped inside an escape tunnel after rain made conditions unstable.
The four prisoners have not been sighted since it emerged they had escaped during a prison roll call at Kerobokan jail at 8am on Monday.
More World News Videos
- Video duration
- 01:27
Questions over escapees' fate in Bali ...
Questions over escapees' fate in Bali jailbreak
Bali police suspect one of four prison escapees may have gotten stuck in an escape tunnel during the jailbreak and drowned. Courtesy Ten Eyewitness News.
Up Next
Total eclipse preview
- Video duration
- 01:01
- Video duration
- 01:01
Total eclipse preview
Total eclipse preview
On August 21st, for the first time in almost a century, a total solar eclipse will reach across the country..plunging a strip 70 miles wide, into darkness.
Up Next
Uber CEO quits under investor pressure
- Video duration
- 01:34
- Video duration
- 01:34
Uber CEO quits under investor pressure
Uber CEO quits under investor pressure
Uber Technologies Chief Executive Travis Kalanick, co-founder of one of the most influential technology companies of its generation, has resigned under mounting pressure from investors over his leadership.
Up Next
Queen's speech to UK parliament
- Video duration
- 01:30
- Video duration
- 01:30
Queen's speech to UK parliament
Queen's speech to UK parliament
Queen Elizabeth II said the UK government will work to secure the best possible deal on leaving the EU, as she addressed the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday.
Up Next
Police officer attacked at Michigan airport
- Video duration
- 00:48
- Video duration
- 00:48
Police officer attacked at Michigan ...
Police officer attacked at Michigan airport
A Michigan police officer is in the hospital after being hurt at Bishop International Airport in Flint, with witnesses saying police led a man away in handcuffs shortly after.
Up Next
Republican wins costly Georgia election
- Video duration
- 01:06
- Video duration
- 01:06
Republican wins costly Georgia election
Republican wins costly Georgia election
Georgia Republican Karen Handel won the most expensive US congressional race in history, in a race that was widely seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump.
Up Next
RAAF ceases Syria operations
- Video duration
- 01:06
- Video duration
- 01:06
RAAF ceases Syria operations
RAAF ceases Syria operations
The Australian airforce has halted operations in Syria after a US plane shot down a Syrian fighter jet, drawing rebuke from Russia.
Up Next
Heatwave stops planes flying in US city
- Video duration
- 00:51
- Video duration
- 00:51
Heatwave stops planes flying in US city
Heatwave stops planes flying in US city
American Airlines in meltdown as the mercury soars to 47.8 degrees, grounding 43 flights in Phoenix, Arizona.
Questions over escapees' fate in Bali jailbreak
Bali police suspect one of four prison escapees may have gotten stuck in an escape tunnel during the jailbreak and drowned. Courtesy Ten Eyewitness News.
Badung police chief Yudith Satriya Hananta said police tried to investigate the tunnel using scuba gear on Tuesday but rain made it unstable.
"We will try again when the water dries out," Mr Yudith said.
Related Content
He said police could not confirm whether the prisoners had left Bali and there was a suspicion they might be still stuck inside the tunnel. "That's why we are drying it out to check. It's still full with water, we will see when it's dry."
Police found a small fork inside the narrow tunnel, which was about 13 metres long and led from a hole assumed to be a septic tank near the jail clinic to outside the prison walls.
A head lamp flashlight, sandals and clothes were also found inside the tunnel, including a black shirt recognised as belonging to one of the escapees, Malaysian Tee Kok King, according to a prison official.
Wanted posters urging anyone who sees the prisoners to contact Badung police have been erected throughout Bali.
Mr Yudith said Badung police had coordinated with police throughout Bali and officers at the airport and ports.
"There is the possibility they left Denpasar ... we don't know yet."
Mr Yudith said police had completed questioning the 10 guards who were on duty when the prisoners disappeared and other prisoners in the block.
Police had also taken a back up of the CCTV footage on the day of the break out.
However the footage did not cover the location of the tunnel. Police were still investigating whether the tunnel was new or had previously existed.
Davidson had just 10 weeks left to serve after being sentenced to a year's jail in Bali for using another man's passport.
But he also faces drug charges back in Australia.
He had been due to face Perth Magistrates Court on January 28, 2015, charged with possessing methamphetamine and cannabis and two other offences, but skipped the country.
Davidson spent a year partying and boxing in Bali before falling foul of immigration authorities for using another man's passport that had been reported missing by its real owner in 2013.
Prison sources told Fairfax Media Davidson had told prisoners he intended to do something prior to his release to prolong his stay at Hotel K, as the prison is colloquially known.
"Davidson had made no secret of his intention to avoid being sent back to Australia," a Kerobokan source told Fairfax Media.
A frequent topic behind bars had been how he could be deported to a third country at the end of his sentence that did not have an extradition treaty with Australia.
"He actually likes prison. I can well imagine he escaped with the aim of being caught and extending his sentence in Kerobokan, which is far more comfortable and drugs more easily available than in an Aussie prison," the source said.
A former prisoner said Davidson wanted to stay longer in "Hotel K".
"He was asking me what I thought he could do to stay longer to avoid going back to Australia, as a joke I said "try escaping", I guess he took it literally," the ex-prisoner said on Facebook.