The latest in a spate of prison riots in Ecuador has left 44 inmates dead and more than a hundred still at large, the country’s Interior Ministry confirmed on Monday.
According to the ministry’s head, Patricio Carrillo, the tragedy at the Bellavista prison in Santo Domingo, a province located to the west of the capital city of Quito, resulted from a fight between inmates from two rival gangs: Los Lobos, which was involved in a recent riot at another prison near the city of Cuenca, and R7.
Most of the deaths resulted from stab wounds, Carrillo said. He did not rule out that the number of casualties might increase as several people were severely injured. Initially, the authorities had spoken of 41 deaths but by Tuesday the number had increased to 44.
All of the bodies are expected to be transferred to relatives on Tuesday.