NEWPORT, Tenn. — Authorities in Tennessee were searching for four inmates who broke out of jail on Christmas.

Media reports quoted the Cocke County sheriff’s office as saying six inmates escaped from the jail early Sunday after removing a toilet from a wall and going through a hole behind it that led to the outside of the facility.

The sheriff said that prior plumbing repairs had loosened the concrete holding the toilet and leaking water had rusted bolts.

The reports said two inmates were caught by Christmas evening, but four remained on the run: John Thomas Shehee and Harce Wade Allen, both 28 years old; Eric S. Click, 29; and David Wayne Frazier, 54.

The captured inmates were identified as John Mark Speir, who was caught at a home in Cosby, and Steven Lewis, who was captured after a foot chase in the Carson Springs area. During Speir’s arrest, two other men were charged with harboring a fugitive.

Earlier this month, four prisoners escaped from a jail in Dandridge. They were recaptured.

Associated Press