KUNMING -- An inmate escaped from a prison in Southwest China's Yunnan province Tuesday morning, the provincial prison administration said in a report Wednesday.

Zhang Lincang, 27, was sentenced to life imprisonment for transporting drugs, and started his sentence in January 2017 at the No. 1 Prison in Yunnan.

"Zhang left the site where inmates were working at around 8:20 am Tuesday, stole a truck, broke through the separation net at the prison and fled," the report said. He abandoned the truck on a road 2 kilometers from the prison.

The prison immediately reported the escape to higher authorities.

Police are pursuing the convict, and the case is under investigation.