Inside the Tunnel El Chapo Used for His Latest Prison Escape

The Mexican drug lord's tunnel was roughly a mile long.

ByABC News
July 15, 2015, 12:16 PM

— -- The tunnel that one of Mexico's most notorious and richest drug lords used in his latest prison escape has now been explored.

Footage shot by ABC News and other video shared by the Mexican government show electricity and lights in the tunnel supported by a generator.

PHOTO: Wiring helped provide lighting to the tunnel.
Wiring helped provide lighting to the tunnel.

The tunnel runs nearly a mile underground from his cell in the Altiplano maximum-security prison to the outside world.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman broke free from his cell using the tunnel Saturday evening and no official spotting has been confirmed since.

PHOTO: The tunnel extended for about a mile away from the prison.
The tunnel extended for about a mile away from the prison.

The ventilated tunnel was built to accommodate Guzman’s height of 5 feet, 6 inches. The drug kingpin's nickname is a play on his height: “El Chapo” means "shorty," or "the short one," in Spanish.

A deeper portion of the tunnel featured an adapted motorcycle on rails, which can be seen from one of the tunnel entrances.

PHOTO: Construction debris was found inside the tunnel used by Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman to escape from prison.
Construction debris was found inside the tunnel used by Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman to escape from prison.
PHOTO: One of the entrances to the tunnel used by Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman to escape from prison.
One of the entrances to the tunnel used by Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman to escape from prison.

Authorities estimate that the people responsible for making the tunnel must have removed roughly 379 truckloads of dirt.

Guzman entered the tunnel from one entrance located in the shower area of his cell, and then he is believed to have gotten out from an exit that opened into a half-built house outside the grounds of the prison.

PHOTO: One of the exits from the tunnel, outside prison grounds, is shown.
One of the exits from the tunnel, outside prison grounds, is shown.