Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of two convicted murderers who escaped from a maximum security prison 20 miles from the Canadian border.

“We have carefully retraced the steps, literally, from the cell to the manhole cover which is where they exited,” said the governor during a conference call with reporters Sunday afternoon.

The inmates cut through a solid steel plate in the back of their cells, broke through a brick wall, cut through several steel pipes and shimmied down one of them before cutting their way out and crawling out of a manhole cover.

New York State Department of Corrections Acting Commissioner Anthony Annucci said he believe the inmates may have obtained power tools left unattended by contractors who do work on the Clinton Correctional facility, which opened in 1865.

“We will pursue every lead possible until we answer this question definitively,” Annuci said. “In the meanwhile, what I have done is put out an instruction to all facilities to ensure that they exercise the utmost vigilance and precaution in inventory control.”

The state is investigating whether any of the contractors who work in the prison system have a connection to the escapees. 

The Governor said 250 law enforcement officers are involved in the manhunt.

"This is a crisis situation for the state," Cuomo said. “These are dangerous men. They’re capable of committing grave crimes once again."