CRI听力:One of Escaped US Prisoners Shot and Killed

One of two convicted murderers who escaped from a US maximum-security prison three weeks ago has been shot dead.

Governor Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference that 48 year old Richard Matt was shot dead by a Border Patrol agent in a wooded area around 30 miles from the prison.

"They came upon a cabin, they went inside the cabin, they detected the smell of gunpowder. The law enforcement partners were then notified and the (US) Customs and Border Patrol tactical team helicoptered in and approached the site. The team came upon (Richard) Matt, who was an escaped prisoner from Dannemora, engaged Mr Matt who was armed and Mr Matt was shot and killed."

Cuomo says Customs and Border Patrol agents were sent in by helicopter to find Matt, adding that the team smelled gunpowder in a nearby area, a sign a gun had been fired.

The other convict, David Sweat, hasn't been spotted.

Cuomo says it isn't clear if Matt and Sweat were together at the time of the shooting.

"We have no reason to believe that Mr (David) Sweat was not with Mr Matt at the time but we don't have any confirming evidence that he was either. There are several leads that are being tracked down as we speak about Mr Sweat and his possible whereabouts. But we don't have anything confirm where Mr Sweat is at this time."

David Sweat and Richard Matt, cut through a steel wall, broke through bricks and crawled through a steam pipe before emerging through a manhole outside the prison grounds in upstate New York earlier this month.

It's the first time the prison in Dannemora has been broken out of.