Ecuador: Six inmates BEHEADED in prison massacre, 116 DEAD

A very grim story developing in Ecuador: at least 116 inmates at the biggest prison in the South American country have been confirmed dead. This is after one of most violent prison riots broke out at the largest correctional facility in that country.

Another jaw dropper? At least six of the inmates were beheaded, while others were shot in the bloody scenes. According to various international media outlets, the chaos broke out on Tuesday evening at the Penitenciaria del Litoral in Guayas province.

It appears the riot is the culmination of months of fights between gangs in the prison, who have been embroiled in a power struggle for the facility.

An additional 80 inmates were injured in the violence and are being treated in various hospitals.

Ecuador prison massacre: Calm not entirely restored

According to Ecuador’s Police Commander Fabian Bustos, an operation led by law enforcement agencies resulted in some level of calm being restored after more than four hours.

However, President Guillermo Lasso said in a televised address earlier that they hadn’t managed to completely regain control of the situation and urged inmates’ relatives and families to stay away from the area.

“I wish I was able right now to say that yes, we have completely secured the Litoral Penitantiary, but frankly I cannot. This meeting we just had was to organize the next steps forward, and I hope in the next few hours you will see some of the plans we agreed in action,” he said.

Ecuador’s prisons service director Bolivar Garzon told a local radio the situation was “terrible”.

“Yesterday, police took control at 1400 [local time], but last night there were other shootings, other things, explosions and today in the morning we took total control, we are entering the pavilions where there was conflict and discovering more bodies,” he said.