ATHENS, November 16 (RIA Novosti) - Seven inmates have been caught digging a nine-meter-long tunnel in a prison in Larissa, a city in central Greece, the country’s justice ministry said on Friday.

"The inmates have dug a nine-meter long tunnel at the depth of five meters to get outside the penitentiary facility’s territory,” the ministry said.

The tunnel began in a ground-floor cell. The breakout was thwarted “by observant prison workers,” the ministry said without giving further details.