30th September 2021
Ecuador prison riot: Anxious families await news after fighting kills 116 inmates, leaving inmates in body parts
By BBC
Desperate families have gathered at a jail in Ecuador which police are trying to bring under control after fighting left at least 116 inmates dead.
The battle first broke out on Tuesday, with prisoners using explosives and firearms on each other.
Families are seeking news on loved ones but with some victims decapitated or dismembered, identifying the bodies could take days.
The gang-related violence is the worst in Ecuador's history.
What is happening inside the Guayas prison complex, also known as the Litoral Penitentiary, is unclear.
Officials said on Wednesday the jail was back under their control, but early on Thursday neighbours said they had heard explosions and gunshots.
Shortly afterwards, police said it was sending 400 officers back in to "maintain order".
Police commander Tannya Varela told Reuters the toll could rise as security forces work their way through the jail.
"We have not yet completed the intervention in the penitentiary, so it is possible that there are other bodies inside, and some of the injured could die from their wounds," she said.
The fight first broke out on Tuesday when inmates from one wing of the prison crawled through a hole to gain access to a different wing, where they attacked rival gang members.
Police managed to get six cooks, who were trapped in the wing where the fight happened, to safety and only two police officers were injured.
Ecuador's prison director, Bolívar Garzón, said that police had entered the prison on Tuesday and found 24 bodies.
With security forces inside and outside of the jail, families of inmates face an anxious wait.
Some of the relatives said they had been sent photos and video from inside the prison but had been given no official confirmation as to whether their family member was among the victims.
Newspaper El Comercio reported that one woman had recognised her husband in one of the videos. She said he was one of those who had been decapitated.
Who's fighting whom?
The fact that only two police officers have been injured but more than 100 inmates killed strongly suggests this is a war among inmates rather than an attempt at a prison uprising.
Local media are reporting that the brutal killings could have been ordered from outside the prison mirroring a power struggle between Mexican cartels currently under way in Ecuador.
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