The alert was raised after police began investigating a crashed stolen Ford ute in Tumbarumba in the early hours of Thursday morning.

When officers arrived in Albury Street, where the 4WD has smashed into a power pole just after 1.30am, they discovered a green gaol-issued beanie inside the vehicloe.

After contacting the nearby Mannus Correctional Centre, a minimum-security prison farm, they were told two inmates were missing from the centre.

Joel McCorkindale, 23, and Norman Lizano, 37, are unaccounted for and believed to be on the run, headed for the Young and Parklea areas.

Police are urging anyone who spies the pair not to approach them, but to call Triple 0.

Joel McCorkindale is described as being of Caucasian appearance, between 175cm and 180cm tall with a thin build, blond hair and blue eyes.

Norman Lizano has been described as being of Caucasian appearance, 180cm tall, medium build, brown hair and brown eyes, and tattoos on his left shoulder and both arms.