Nine maximum security inmates escaped from a county jail Friday by climbing down a rope made of bed sheets, authorities said. Five of the inmates were quickly recaptured before they could leave the jail grounds, said Will Paulakis, a Yakima County Corrections Department division chief.

Authorities were searching for the other four, including a 20-year-old man scheduled to go on trial Dec. 5 on charges of second-degree murder, another man charged with burglary, and two in custody on second-degree assault allegations. The inmates apparently escaped shortly after 5 p.m. through the ceiling of a cell in their unit on the top floor of the four-story main jail, said Cpl. Ken Rink, a Corrections Department spokesman.

They gained access to the roof and used bed sheets to slide down to the roof of the adjacent one-story jail annex, then jumped to the ground. A similar approach was used in a 1994 jailbreak.