UPDATE: The U.S. Marshals Service is offering a $30,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of three accused felons who escaped from the Orange County jail, Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens announced at a news conference Sunday morning.

That is in addition to the up to $20,000 being offered by the FBI.

“We’ve gotten a number of what I would call very good tips,” Hutchens said.

Some of the tips have led investigators to focus on other counties, but, Hutchens said, “There’s no indication that anyone has left the country.”

More to come.

***

SANTA ANA – A manhunt is underway after three inmates, including one accused of murder, carried out a brazen jailbreak, cutting and climbing their way out of Orange County jail.

Hossein Nayeri, 37, Jonathan Tieu, 20, and Bac Duong, 43, were still at large Saturday night after their Friday breakout.

“This was clearly a well-thought out and planned escape,” Orange County Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Jeff Hallock said.

All three are believed to be violent and dangerous. Authorities advise anyone who spots one of them to call 911.

The men were living in a housing tank within the Central Jail Complex known as Mod F, which they shared with 65 other inmates.

Sometime between Friday’s 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. head counts, the men cut through half-inch steel bars, forced their way into a plumbing tunnel and made their way to an unsecured part of the jailhouse roof, Hallock said.

Using an improvised “rope” – perhaps bedsheets or jail clothes – the men got around the barbed wire and rappelled four stories to the ground, he said.

The men then ran off, authorities believe.

It wasn’t until around the 9 p.m. count that jail staff realized the men were unaccounted for, Hallock said. By midnight, officials confirmed that the inmates were gone.

“We have several counts throughout the 24-hour period. We have two, what we call, physical body counts – where they physically count the bodies and match them to our record cards,” Hallock said.

There are several unanswered questions.

Sheriff’s officials would not say what type of tools were used for cutting, or where they might have come from.

Investigators are still looking into whether the men had help from the outside, or a getaway driver.

It isn’t clear if the men ran away from the facility in their jailhouse orange jumpsuits, or if they managed to quickly change.

And it isn’t known if they cut through the steel bars and tunnel walls in one sitting, or if they carried the work out in increments.

But officials say it’s clear that the escape likely took weeks, or even months, to plan.

Authorities also believe a “disturbance” at the jail just prior to the scheduled nightly check may have been staged to aid the escape.

Hallock declined to say whether the disturbance was a fight, or provide other details.

“It appears, based on that disturbance and the timing of things, that that may have been part of the planning process, but again we’re still very early in the investigation,” the lieutenant said.

(Click to enlarge)

Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said her department, along with other local law enforcement agencies, are working around the clock to nab the fugitives.

“We are utilizing every resource available to ensure these inmates are brought back into custody as quickly as possible,” Hutchens said in a statement released Saturday night. “I take this situation very seriously and the men and women of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department will not rest until all three men are captured.”

Besides sharing housing arrangements at the jail, there is no obvious link among the men, one of whom has spent less than a month in custody.

The most high-profile is Nayeri, who is one of four people accused of kidnapping and torturing a marijuana dispensary owner. Authorities suspect they falsely believed the owner had buried money in a desert.

Prosecutors say that while driving to the desert, Nayeri and two other men burned the dispensary owner with a blowtorch and cut off his penis. Authorities also believe that they attempted to destroy DNA evidence by pouring bleach on the man before dumping him and his girlfriend on the side of the road.

They took the dispensary owner’s penis with them “so that it could never be re-attached,” prosecutors said.

The girlfriend, still bound, was able to run a mile to a main road to flag down police.

Nayeri fled to Iran before Newport Beach authorities could take him into custody, but was later arrested by the FBI in Prague while trying to catch a flight to Spain to visit family.

He was held in the jail without bail since September 2014.

Tieu, in custody since October 2013, was charged with murder, which authorities say involved a gang-related incident. He was in jail in lieu of $1 million bail.

Duong is facing an attempted murder charge and was ineligible for bail because he was on an immigration hold.

Along with contacting the agencies that investigated the men and the deputy DA’s who are prosecuting them, Hallock said investigators are reaching out to any family or acquaintances of the fugitives.

Jail investigators are also going over surveillance footage, but acknowledge that some of the rarely-used portions of the jail the men used to escape may not have cameras within then.

Aiding with the search are federal marshals and the FBI, Hallock said. Officials did not specify which cities in particular they are focusing on.

The FBI is offering a $20,000 reward for anyone who provides information that leads to the men’s arrest.

Authorities are asking anyone with information about the fugitives to contact the Orange County Sheriff’s Department at 714-628-7085 or to submit anonymous tips to CrimeStoppers at 855-847-6227.