Prison crisis in Ecuador: victims of attack in Guayaquil identified

Ecuador: 68 die in a new act of violence in jail 6:03

(CNN) -

Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso called a "crisis cabinet" after another outbreak of prison violence killed at least 68 people on Saturday, according to a statement from the president's office.

The move came after the Ecuadorian prosecutor's office asked the government to take "urgent measures" to address the situation, according to a post on the agency's official Twitter account.

Prosecutors said at least 68 prisoners were killed and another 25 wounded during clashes Saturday at the Litoral Penitentiary, one of Ecuador's largest prisons in the coastal city of Guayaquil.

Hundreds of prisoners have died in large-scale riots and gang violence in Ecuadorian prisons over the past year.

In the same facility, the Litoral Penitentiary, 118 people died in September during clashes involving automatic weapons and even grenades.

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So far, 41 bodies have been identified since the bloodshed on Saturday.

They will be delivered to families in the following hours.

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"The Human Rights Secretariat will deliver the coffins to the families in the next few hours while criminology continues to work on the identification of the other deceased," the Ecuadorian government said in a statement.

The government also offers psychological assistance to the families of the victims, the statement added.

The Ecuadorian police began to activate security protocols this Friday night after reports of shots and possible clashes between inmates in the prison, according to the governor of Guayas, Pablo Arosemena, in an announcement published on the official Facebook page of the government of the province of Guayas.

The deadly clashes appear to be an example of gang violence, according to the governor, who said inmates "not only used guns and detonations, but tried to suffocate [other inmates], burned mattresses and more."

Ecuador's prison system has been in a state of emergency since the deadly clashes in September.

More than 300 inmates have died in prison violence this year, according to figures from Ecuador's SNAI prison service.

With information from Florencia Trucco. 

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