Five youth offenders broke out of their units at a Rolleston youth justice facility, climbing on to a roof where they stayed for several hours.

Emergency services were called to what was only described last night as “an incident” at Te Puna Wai o Tūhinapō in Rolleston, Christchurch.

The facility is an Oranga Tamariki - Ministry for Children - youth justice residence that has a capacity for up to 40 young people.

Oranga Tamariki deputy chief executive Rachel Letoa confirmed five young people left their unit and accessed a roof just after 8.30pm.

“All five were able to be brought down from the roof with assistance by members of the NZ Police just before midnight.

“One staff member received minor injuries as a result of the incident and one young person has been taken into police custody.”

Oranga Tamariki will be conducting a review into this matter, Leota said.

A reporter at the scene last night said six police vehicles and a fire truck were outside the building and that he could hear young people “yelling out to each other from inside the facility”.

- Nathan Morton and Sam Sherwood, NZ Herald