Police officers stand guard at the entrance of the prison after an armed riot that left four dead and dozens more injured in Machala, Ecuador, on Nov. 9, 2025. LUIS SUAREZ/AFP via Getty Images

At least 27 inmates were found dead from asphyxiation Sunday at a prison in Ecuador where a riot broke out that left four others dead and dozens injured earlier in the day, officials said.

The inmates found at the Machala prison in El Oro province in southwestern Ecuador had "among themselves committed asphyxiation, which caused immediate death by suspension," officials said in a statement, Agence France-Presse reported.

The deadly day at Machala's prison marks the latest spasm of prison unrest in the South American country.

Earlier on Sunday, a riot broke out at the prison that officials said stemmed from the "reorganization of inmates" to a new maximum-security prison that will soon begin operating in a different province. The violent incident happened less than two months after 14 inmates died at the same facility in what authorities described as a dispute between gangs.

Local residents could hear gunfire, explosions, and cries for help coming from inside the prison's walls, AFP reported.

Officials said authorities regained control of the facility following the riot, which also injured one police officer. In addition to the four inmates killed, 33 inmates and one police officer were injured.

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

Ecuador's prisons have become among the deadliest in Latin America as overcrowding, corruption and weak state control have allowed gangs connected to drug traffickers in Colombia and Mexico to proliferate. Many are heavily armed with weapons smuggled in from the outside and continue to organize criminal activity from behind bars.

Another clash between drug gangs last month claimed at least 17 lives at a prison located in the coastal city of Esmeraldas, near the Colombian border.

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

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