Image copyright AP Image caption David Sweat (left) was serving life, while Richard Matt has a 25-year sentence

The hunt for two convicted killers who escaped from a New York prison is now focusing heavily on a rural area close to the Pennsylvania state line.

Richard Matt and David Sweat went missing from the prison in Dannemora, near the Canadian border, on 6 June.

Police descended on the hamlet of Friendship, 300 miles (480km) to the south, on Saturday.

Close to 300 officers are now searching the area, seven miles (12km) from the New York-Pennsylvania state line.

Police said on Saturday they were responding to a sighting in Friendship of two men walking along a railway.

They added there had also been a sighting matching the men's description a week ago in Steuben County, New York, which is next to Allegany County, where Friendship is located.

"We will search under every rock, behind every tree and structure until we are confident that that area is secure,'' Michael J Cerretto, a New York state police major, said.

However, the main part of the search continues to be in the area around Dannemora, police said in a statement.

Image copyright AP Image caption The escapees left a taunting note to prison authorities

Matt, 49, was convicted of the kidnap, torture and dismemberment of his former boss, whose body was found in pieces in a river.

Sweat, 35, was serving life for his part in the killing of a sheriff's deputy who witnessed stolen guns being handled.

They cut through brick and steel at the Clinton Correctional Facility, before crawling through an underground pipe.

They then emerged from a manhole outside the prison's 40-foot (12-metre) walls.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Hundreds of police officers have been deployed in New York state since 6 June

They left a taunting note for prison authorities to find.

Workshop instructor Joyce Mitchell, 51, has appeared in court accused of befriending the two men and giving them contraband.

She also planned to be the pair's getaway driver, but changed her mind at the last minute, investigators say.