Heavily-armed police have converged on towns in western New York state to investigate the possible sightings of two convicted murderers who escaped a maximum-security prison two weeks ago, police said.

A witness saw two men who might have been the escapees walking along a railroad track in Friendship, a community of about 2,000 residents in a rural patch of Allegany County, New York State Police said in a statement.

Police set up a perimeter in the area of Friendship, about 450 kilometres southwest of the Clinton Correctional Facility where the escaped convicts had been serving sentences for murder.

New York State Police spokesman Beau Duffy said it could not be confirmed if the two men were the escapees Richard Matt and David Sweat.

About 150 law enforcement officers were searching the area, he said, deployed from a variety of agencies including US marshals and state police, plus special operations teams, officers with dogs, and helicopters.

They called on people living in the area, which is along the border with Pennsylvania, to be alert.

State police said another possible sighting was made about 80 kilometres east of Friendship around a construction site in Erwin, New York state, and that troopers and investigators were deployed.

They had said the two men might have been spotted on June 13 near a rail yard in Erwin, and the next day in nearby Lindley.

Investigators were examining surveillance video to determine if the week-old sighting was the escapees.

The US Marshals Service has put Matt and Sweat on its 15 Most Wanted fugitives list.

The reported sightings of the men on Saturday came a day after officials said a corrections officer at Clinton Correctional Facility was suspended in connection with the escape.

Authorities did not say whether they believed the corrections officer, whose name was not released, would face charges or if the officer was believed to have assisted in the breakout.

Another prison worker, Joyce Mitchell, is accused of assisting the escapees.

Mitchell, 51, a training supervisor in the prison tailor shop who is charged with giving hacksaw blades to the convicted murderers, lost her nerve to drive their getaway car and instead checked into a hospital with a panic attack, authorities said.

The two inmates, who went through prison cell walls, a steam pipe and a manhole cover to escape, were discovered missing the morning of June 6, officials said.

Before escaping, the inmates left a note with the caption "Have a nice day" at the Clinton Correctional Facility. ( Reuters: New York Governor's Press Office )

Reuters