A CONVICT suffocated just metres from escaping jail after digging a 230-foot-long tunnel from his cell toilet to freedom.

Judson Cunha Evangelista, 26, is believed to have died from a lack of oxygen as he carved the tunnel, which had already passed under the perimeter wall of the maximum security jail in Boa Vista, northern Brazil.

The escape route was discovered by cops yesterday after the convicted murderer managed to make it back to his cell after becoming ill inside the hole, but died soon after.

Shocked officers discovered a hole which began underneath the toilet in Evangelista’s cell in Wing 7 of the Monte Cristo penitentiary, the largest prison in Brazil’s northernmost state of Roraima.

The dirt tunnel continued for 230 feet underneath the prison and had already passed under its heavily-fortified outer walls and electric fences, according to prison authorities.

The tunnel is believed to have taken months to excavate and was reportedly just a few metres away from reaching the surface in surrounding forest outside.

Officers found several bags of dirt and an electric cable which ran the length of the tunnel, with a light bulb on the end.

The state justice department, Sejuc, which is in charge of the prison, said 150 policemen took seven hours to locate the tunnel after prison officers were alerted to its existence following Evangelista’s death.

It is believed the prisoner was planning to charge other inmates to use the tunnel in a mass escape bid.

The tunnel has now been filled with concrete, a spokesman said.

Last January the Monte Cristo jail made headlines after a bloody rebellion broke out during which more than 30 prisoners were killed.

At the time the prison, which has capacity for 750 inmates, was housing more than 1,400.

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