A violent riot inside a prison in southwest Ecuador has left at least 31 inmates dead, marking one of the country’s deadliest episodes this year. Ecuador’s national prisons agency, SNAI, said in a statement that 27 prisoners died from asphyxiation and “immediate death by hanging” following an eruption of chaos early Sunday in Machala, a coastal city near the Peruvian border. Officials said forensic teams were still investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

The violence began around 3:00 a.m., when residents near the prison reported hearing gunfire, explosions, and screams. Tactical police units stormed the facility and eventually restored control after hours of fighting. Initially, four inmates were reported killed, but the number rose sharply as authorities discovered more bodies. At least 33 prisoners and one police officer were injured.

Authorities have not confirmed whether the riot stemmed from clashes between rival gangs, though recent reorganizations within the prison system have often triggered turf wars. Ecuador’s penitentiaries have become strongholds for powerful criminal groups that control drug routes and carry out violence from behind bars. Since 2021, more than 500 inmates have died in prison confrontations.

The Machala facility has seen repeated bloodshed. In September, 14 inmates were killed and 14 wounded in another riot, followed days later by 17 deaths in Esmeraldas prison.

Once considered one of South America’s safer nations, Ecuador is now gripped by narco-violence linked to transnational trafficking networks. Experts warn that the country’s prison system — overrun by gangs — has become the epicenter of its security crisis, turning places of confinement into brutal battlefields in an ongoing war for control.