Six prisoners were found hanged in their cells Wednesday in a prison in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil, the National Service of Integral Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI) said.

According to SNAI, security guards found the bodies of the prisoners hanged inside their cells at the Guayas 1 prison, known as Litoral Penitentiary.

“This service and the authorities of the center are providing all the means to the respective institutions for the corresponding procedures and investigations,” SNAI said.

According to local media, the cellblock where the inmates were found dead was reportedly under the control of a criminal gang linked to drug trafficking.Since February 2021, some 214 inmates have been killed in this prison in the port city of Guayaquil.

A clash between inmates armed with guns and knives inside the Latacunga prison in central Ecuador on Monday left at least 15 people dead and 20 injured, authorities said.