NEWPORT - Authorities in Tennessee are searching for four inmates who broke out of jail on Christmas.

Media reports quote the Cocke County Sheriff's Office as saying six inmates escaped from the jail early Sunday after removing a toilet from the wall and going through a hole behind it that led to the outside of the facility.

A statement by the sheriff says that prior plumbing repairs had loosened the concrete holding the toilet and leaking water had rusted the bolts holding it.

The reports say two inmates were caught by Christmas evening, but four remain on the run: John Thomas Shehee and Harce Wade Allen, both 28 years old; Eric S. Click, 29; and David Wayne Frazier, 54.