A riot in a prison in southern Ecuador has killed at least 31 inmates, according to prison authorities.

In a statement released on Sunday, Ecuador’s SNAI prison authority said 27 of those found dead at the Machala prison in El Oro province had been hanged. A further four died amid an armed riot that also left 33 inmates and one police officer injured.

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The violence, during which residents reported hearing gunfire, explosions, and cries for help, came less than two months after 14 inmates died at the same facility in what authorities described as a dispute between gangs.

Authorities said they were still working to “fully clarify the facts”, and forensic medical personnel were on site to verify information. The conditions of the injured were not immediately clear.

The deadly day at Machala’s prison, which began at about 3:00am (08:00 GMT), marks the latest spasm of prison unrest in the South American country.

Elite police teams entered the prison immediately and regained control after the riot broke out, said the SNAI authority.

It did not specify the identities of the deceased or confirm whether the violence was another case of inter-gang fighting.

The riot is believed to have broken out amid the start of an operation to move some inmates into a new maximum-security prison, built by President Daniel Noboa’s government in another province, that is due to be inaugurated this month.

Ecuador’s prisons are among the deadliest in Latin America as overcrowding, corruption and weak control by the authorities have allowed gangs connected to drug traffickers in Colombia and Mexico to proliferate.

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At the end of September, an armed confrontation at the prison in Machala left 14 inmates and a prison official dead. Days later, another 17 people were killed in a prison riot in the northern city of Esmeraldas, near the border with Colombia.

Noboa’s administration, which has pledged to take a tough stance on crime, blames the violence on rival gangs battling for dominance and territorial control.

More than 500 people have died in prison riots since 2021. Last year, a series of coordinated riots across multiple prisons led to 150 prison guards being taken hostage.