According to the public prosecutor, at most minuscule, 43 convicts perished in Monday's prison riot in Ecuador, while another 100 managed to escape.

Authorities reported a fight between the rival Los Lobos and R7 gangs inside the Bellavista prison in Santo Domingo de Los Colorados, around 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Quito.

"For now there are 43 inmates dead," the public prosecutor's office tweeted, adding that the situation was "developing."

During the brawl, dozens of prisoners attempted to flee.

Police commander Fausto Salinas informed the media that 108 detainees were missing after 112 escaped inmates were caught.

The prison authority of the South American nation, SNAI, has triggered "security protocols" to contain "disturbances to order."

Interior minister Patricio Carrillo initially told reporters that two convicts had been slain but then increased to 41 during a press conference.

However, he also stated that "13 people have been taken to hospital, several with serious injuries, and it is possible the number (of dead) will rise."

The public prosecutor's office then tweeted the most recent death toll.

Carrillo had initially asserted that the situation was under control and that all escaped convicts had been caught.

AFP reporters at the site reported that inmates with facial injuries were transported to medical facilities by truck and ambulance. At the same time, family members of those detained gathered at the prison seeking information.

Salinas stated, "200 police, 200 soldiers and additional reinforcements are on their way."

"Mutilated corpses"

Since February 2021, around 350 inmates have been slain in five consecutive prison riots.

Within the past month at least 20 convicts perished within the El Turi prison in Cuenca, southern Ecuador.

President Guillermo Lasso of Ecuador says that the crisis inside the institutions reflects that outside, where drug gangs vie for control of trafficking routes.

Sometimes, these rivalries between prisoners erupt into violence, with some convicts being hacked to death or beheaded with machetes.

Carrillo stated that the bulk of victims, if not nearly all, were killed with knives instead of firearms.

Their damaged bodies were left in place.

The convicts were murdered in their cells and standard rooms, after which other detainees attempted to flee the facility with firearms.

Authorities have stated that they will hunt for firearms and transfer gang leaders to a separate prison in Guayas province.

"This is the unfortunate result of gang violence," Lasso, who is currently on a state visit to Israel, posted on Twitter.

He also "condolences to relatives."

Even with increased spending on the prison system, a commission to pacify institutions and new measures such as housing the most dangerous offenders in a single prison have not lessened the horrific violence.

There are 35,000 detainees in 65 prisons with a capacity of only 30,000 inmates.

The 1,200-person capacity Bellavista jail houses 1,700 inmates.

The government has declared a state of emergency in the three most devastated provinces: Guayas, Manabi, and Esmeraldas.

The country confiscated a record-breaking 210 tons of drugs in 2021 and has already seized 82 tons in 2022.

Bordering the world's two leading cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru, Ecuador is frequently used to export the white powder to the United States and Europe.