Head of Sinaloa cartel escapes from maximum-security jail after security cameras lost sight of him when he went to showers

Top Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, head of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, has escaped from a maximum-security prison for the second time, Mexican officials said as they launched a manhunt.

Guzmán was last seen about 9pm on Saturday in the shower area of the Altiplano prison, 56 miles outside Mexico City, according to a statement from the national security commission. He went to the shower area but security cameras lost sight of him. Upon checking his cell, authorities found it was empty.

A search operation began immediately in the surrounding area and highways. Flights were also suspended at Toluca airport, near the prison.

Guzmán was captured in February 2014 after more than a decade on the run. He was listed as 56 years old at the time, though there are varying dates for his birth. He faces multiple federal drug trafficking indictments in the US and was on the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s most-wanted list.

During his time as a fugitive, Guzmán transformed himself from a middling Mexican boss into arguably the most powerful drug trafficker in the world. His fortune grew to be estimated at more than $1bn (£650m), according to Forbes magazine, which listed him among the world’s most powerful people and ranked him above the presidents of France and Venezuela.

His Sinaloa cartel empire still stretches throughout North America and reaches as far away as Europe and Australia. The cartel has been heavily involved in the bloody drug war that has torn through parts of Mexico for the last decade, taking an estimated 100,000 lives.

Sinaloa is believed now to control most of the major crossing points for drugs at the US border with Mexico.

Guzmán was caught by authorities for the first time in Guatemala in 1993, extradited and sentenced to 20 years in prison in Mexico for murder and drug trafficking. He escaped from another maximum-security prison, Puente Grande in western Jalisco state, in 2001 with the help of prison guards. He reputedly escaped in a laundry cart, though there were several versions of the story of how he got away.

Guzmán was known for his ability to pay off local residents and even authorities who would tip him off about security operations launched for his capture. He was finally tracked down to a modest beachside high-rise in the Pacific coast resort city of Mazatlan, where he had been hiding with his wife and twin daughters, on 22 February 2014. He was taken in the early morning without a shot fired.

But before they reached him, security forces went on a chase through Culiacán, the capital of his home Sinaloa state, lasting several days. They found houses where Guzmán supposedly had been staying with steel-reinforced doors and elaborate tunnels that allowed him to escape through the sewer system.

Earlier this year, the former Mexican attorney general Jesús Murillo Karam told Associated Press that sending Guzmán to the US, where he is wanted, would save Mexico a lot of money, but keeping him in Mexico was a question of national sovereignty.

He dismissed concerns that Guzmán could escape a second time. That risk “does not exist,” Murillo Karam said. He has since been replaced by Arely Gómez as attorney general.

Mexican officials had no immediate comment, but have scheduled a press conference for 7am local time.