HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (WITN) – Authorities are searching for an Eastern Carolina inmate who escaped this morning from a medical facility in the Triangle.

Ramone Alston is serving a life sentence for a murder that happened in Orange County. He was an inmate at Bertie Correctional Institution.

Prison officials say he escaped around 7:00 a.m. when a transport vehicle arrived at UNC Hospitals in Hillsborough.

A news release says Alston had freed himself from leg restraints, and while still in handcuffs, jumped out and ran into some nearby woods.

Multiple law enforcement agencies are looking for the escaped inmate who has friends and family in the Hillsborough area.

If anyone sees Alston, call 911 immediately.