Overview
- Penitentiary authorities reported 27 prisoners were found dead by asphyxiation at El Oro No. 1 in Machala, with forensic teams still verifying details on site.
- Hours earlier at the same facility, a separate clash with firearms and explosives left at least four inmates dead and more than 30 injured, including a police agent.
- Special police units entered the prison, retook control, and detained several people for judicial processing, with SNAI citing seven arrests.
- News outlets carried varying totals as information evolved, though SNAI’s confirmed figure for the later discovery is 27 deaths by asphyxiation.
- The government links the events to transfers associated with a new maximum‑security facility, set against Ecuador’s ongoing prison crisis marked by repeated mass killings since 2021.