New Orleans, Louisiana - Ten people escaped a New Orleans jail early Friday after breaking through a wall behind a toilet, law enforcement said, slipping away without being detected until hours later.

A manhunt is underway in the tourist hub – Louisiana's largest city – for seven people still at large who police say "are considered to be armed and dangerous."

Three people are back in custody hours after their escape.

Shortly after midnight, the men broke through a wall behind a toilet, worked their way through the jail, then jumped over an enclosure wall, escaping the facility undetected until 8:30 AM.

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That's when a headcount revealed they were gone.

At first, law enforcement erroneously said 11 people had escaped, but the number was later revised to 10.

The men, who are mostly in their 20s, range in age from 19 to 42.

Media reports said some of the men are accused of murder, and circulated a photograph of the inside of a cell after the escape.

The photo showed a rectangular hole leading out of a cell, the wall above it scrawled with graffiti that says "we innocent," "we out," and "to (sic) easy."