A group of 15 armed men burst into a hospital in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil before dawn and freed their injured ringleader, media reported Monday.
The ringleader was identified as Johnny Luis da Silva, a local organised crime ring's head known as "Bebezao" or "Big Baby" who had been injured in a September shootout with police when he was trying to hold up a delivery truck, Xinhua reported citing Brazil's leading G1 news website.
During Monday's incident, which took place around 4 a.m., the armed men rounded up panicked patients and medical staff at the city's Azevedo State Hospital and locked them in the intensive care unit, according to police sources.
The gang located the room where the leader was convalescing and helped him flee the scene, authorities said.
A video clip on the news website showed a reporter standing inside the sunlit lobby of the hospital, where activity appeared to have returned to normal, with patients and visitors going in and out.
Authorities were searching the area in an attempt to locate the gang.