Two men charged with hijacking helicopter

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Authorities charged two men Friday with hijacking the helicopter that was used to spirit five convicts out of a Puerto Rican prison.

Angel Rivera Marcano and Jesus Rojas Tapia were cited for armed aircraft piracy and carrying a weapon on an aircraft. Authorities said they pointed guns at the chartered helicopter's pilot and ordered him to fly to the prison in the southern city of Ponce.

Rojas is the brother of one of the convicts, Jose Rojas Tapia. The five were serving lengthy murder sentences when the chopper swooped down Monday and lifted them from a prison rooftop.

Four of the five convicts have been captured. The FBI said in a statement that they also were charged with hijacking the aircraft as well as conspiracy.

Some 80 police officers were searching for a fifth escaped convict, Victor Gonzalez Diaz, believed to be at large in a forest in central Puerto Rico.

The incident mirrored another escape on April 7, 1991, when three prisoners flew out of the Rio Piedras State Penitentiary in a hijacked helicopter. Two were recaptured, while a third reportedly remains at large.