To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
An armed gang has stormed one of the main television stations in Ecuador amid a state of emergency sparked after one of the country’s most dangerous men escaped from jail.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa made the announcement yesterday after drug cartel leader José Adolfo Macías Villamar broke free from a prison in the coastal city of Guayaquil on Sunday.
As tensions increased in the South American country, masked gangsters carrying machine guns, pistols and sticks of dynamite broke into the headquarters of the TC Televisión network.
Newspaper El Universo reported that journalists at the station had resorted to pleading for help in group chats.
One message read: ‘They want to kill us all. Help us.’
Staff could be seen being forced to sit and lie down on the floor of the news studio, before the live feed cut out.
Special police forces from Quito and Guayaquil have been deployed to the scene to deal with the chaos.
They later confirmed on social media that staff had been evacuated from the studio and suspects had been arrested.
Images from the TV studio show terrified staff facing the attackers (Picture: TC)
Extraordinary footage captures the masked gangsters holding up their weapons to reporters (Picture: TC)
The Ecuadorian police released an image of suspects handcuffed on the floor of the studio (Picture: Reuters)
Mr Noboa, who was only elected to the position of president in October following an election marred by the assassination of one candidate, declared a state of emergency lasting two months on Monday.
Following the attack on the TV station this evening, he signed an executive order declaring an internal armed conflict.
This morning, nearly 40 inmates at another prison in the city of Riobamba also broke free as a growing wave of terror engulfs the country.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.