Hooded gunmen have burst onto a live TV set in Ecuador.
Live television images broadcast on Tuesday showed hooded people inside Ecuador’s TC television station in Guayaquil, some of whom were seen waving guns.
They were seen telling staff to lie down on the floor, as shots and yelling were heard in the background.
The incident comes amid the kidnappings of at least seven police officers and a series of explosions, a day after Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency.
The state of emergency came after one of the country’s most-notorious drug gang bosses escaped from prison.
Adolfo Macias – also known as Fito – was first reported missing from his cell on Sunday.
Ecuador‘s prosecutors then filed charges against two prison guards as part of their investigation into the alleged escape.
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The leader of the Los Choneros gang was serving a 34-year sentence in La Regional prison for drug trafficking and murder.
His reported escape occurred on the same day he was scheduled to be transferred to a maximum security facility in the city of Guayaquil.
Los Choneros is one of the gangs authorities consider responsible for a spike in violence that reached new highs last year with the assassination of the presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.
The gang has links with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, according to authorities.
Mr Villavicencio had claimed Los Choneros threatened him, but authorities have been unable to formerly accuse Macias or his group for being behind the murder.
