Australian man Shaun Davidson is among four foreign inmates who staged a daring escape from Bali's Kerobokan prison, and remain on the run from Balinese police.

Police show pictures of the Kerobokan jail escapees Shaun Edward Davidson or Eddie Lonsdale or Michael John Bayman from Australia, Sayed Mohammed Said from India, Dimitar Nikolov Iliev from Bulgaria and Tee Kok Ming from Malaysia.

FOUR Bali jail escapees are still on the run today as authorities intensify their search for how the men escaped Kerobokan jail in broad daylight in a busy suburb.

The four foreigners, including Perth man Shaun Edward Davidson, were discovered missing at yesterday mornings roll call and authorities believe they may have tunnelled out via an old water drain.

A view of the tunnel that an Australian and three other foreigners are believed to have escaped through outside Kerobokan prison in Bali, Indonesia. Picture: Putra SinulinggaSource:AAP

Police wearing scuba diving gear have now entered the jail. It is believed they are going to enter the tunnel which authorities believe was used by four men to escape.

Badung police chief Yudith Satriya Hananta said the divers would endeavour to go inside the 15 metre long tunnel. Equipment is currently being used to pump all the water out of the tunnel.

Police wanted to check the tunnel to ensure that no one was trapped inside, he added.

We want to check the tunnel. Where it goes, how deep it is and find out all things, to anticipate if they may still be trapped there, Mr Hananta told News Corp Australia from inside Kerobokan prison.

So far there are no witnesses who saw the men emerging covered in mud from the drain, just under an unmanned guard tower at Kerobokan prison and on a busy street.

And despite a police dragnet to hunt them down including sea searches, there has been no sign whatsoever of the four men.

Our team are still working. They havent been found yet, Bali police spokesman Hengky Widjaja said today.

There are now calls for security at the overcrowded and understaffed jail to be increased.

And there are questions about whether the men used the tunnel to escape amid revelations that there is no excess soil around the tunnel entrance to indicate it had been dug out recently to allow four men to fit inside.

The Bali Ombudsman this morning visited Kerobokan jail and met the Jails Governor about the case which has made headlines around the world.

Mubarok, the assistant ombudsman, said the jail security needs to be stepped up.

Security has to be tightened, because this is not the first time prisoners have escaped from the jail, Mubarok said after inspecting the suspected escape route tunnel.

He questioned why there was no fresh soil near the tunnel entrance.

We are wondering why there was no sign of any soil dug there. Maybe the hole has been open for a long time. It is at the clinic it is 15 metres long with diameter around one metre. Even inside, people can stand, Mubarok said.

We are yet to know what was it for? If they dug it, around eight to 10 cubic metres of soil should be around it. But where is the soil? So, it is alleged that the tunnel has already been there for a long time, but we dont know what the function (of it) is.

We have conveyed to the prison to reveal everything about this case. All the guards should be questioned and intelligence functions inside should be activated. The prison should increase their security to anticipate any other cases like this. Prisoners escaping through a tunnel has never happened before.

So far police have questioned 10 jail guards who were on duty at the time of the brazen escape but there is yet to be any clear answer as to how the four men escaped so easily. The prison has long been overcrowded 1378 inmates supervised by only 11 guards most of the time. The prison was built for just 323 prisoners.

Jail Governor Tonny Nainggolan said the ideal guard-to-prisoner ratio is one guard for 20 prisoners but at the moment there are 11 guards for 1300-1400 prisoners. Mr Nainggolan said he had previously requested an extra 200 staff but had no response from the Ministry.

The tower near where the tunnel emerged just outside the jail was unmanned due to staff shortages.

Davidson, 32, from Subiaco in Perth, had just two months and 15 days left to serve of his one-year sentence for fraudulent use of another mans passport. He was also wanted in Perth on drugs charges.

Shaun Edward Davidson inside Denpasar District Court cell awaiting his first trial of using fake identification and overstaying in Bali. Picture: Lukman S. BintoroSource:News Corp Australia

A Facebook page, believed to belong to Davidson, shows photos and videos of Davidsons life in Kerobokan jail. His last public post was on May 18.

On May 12, he posted a Facebook live video titled Relaxing with brother Bashir, another jail prisoner, and appears to be filmed in a cell where Davidson and Bashir chat live with others.

Hows it going? This is Bashir, hes a good man, have a chat to him. Say hello people, an Australian accent, believed to be Davidson, says. He says they are kicking back, relaxing and listening to music.

On April 11, Davidson posted that he was doing Bintang (beer) and movies and videos of him boxing and sparring in jail are also seen.

In another post he alludes to my book and story.

Mobile phones and the internet are meant to be contraband inside Kerobokan prison, but Davidson appears to have had unfettered access to them.

The last time a prisoner escaped from Kerobokan jail was 2013 when a man, on gardening duty outside the prison walls, simply walked away.

In late May a Peruvian prisoner on ATM fraud charges, miraculously escaped by squeezing himself through a window in the toilet of the holding cells at Denpasar District Court, where he was waiting to appear.

He was caught less than a week later, in Pekanbaru, Sumatra, and has since been sentenced to six years in jail.

Of those who escaped this week, Davidson was serving the shortest sentence.

Indian drug smuggler Sayed Muhammad Said was serving a 14-year sentence. Bulgarian ATM scammer Dimitir Nikolon Ilev was serving seven years, as was Malaysian Tee Kok Ming, on drug charges.

The Daily Telegraphs cartoonist Warren Browns view of the Bali jail escape.Source:News Corp Australia

See the original post here:

Bali police search the tunnel where four inmates including Australian Shaun Davidson escaped - NEWS.com.au