Santo Domingo Archyde.com
Ecuador’s government said Tuesday it was still trying to identify the owners of dismembered bodies following a gang riot at the Bellavista prison in Santo Domingo, and lowered the death toll to 12 from the 13 initially announced.
“Investigation teams at the site collected 45 human parts in the reformatory located in Santo Domingo, which are 12 bodies, not 13,” Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo said on Twitter.
He added: “Anthropologists and forensic doctors moved to perform autopsies on the dismembered bodies,” explaining that the procedures might last for days.
Conservative President Guillermo Lasso’s government has blamed prison violence on gang struggles over land and drug routes. Last year, 316 prisoners were killed in clashes in several prisons across Ecuador.
