Gunmen storm Ecuadorian TV station during live broadcast

A masked armed person standing over journalists. Pic/AP

A group of armed, masked men in Ecuador launched an audacious attack on a television station during a live broadcast and so revealed the country's spiraling violence in the wake of an apparent recent prison escape.

The imprisoned leader of the Los Choneros drug gang - Adolfo Macias, alias ‘Fito' - mysteriously vanished from his cell in the coastal city of Guayaquil on Sunday, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency. He had been serving a 36-year sentence for murder, drug trafficking and other crimes.

On Tuesday, thousands of viewers tuned in to TC Television watched live as the men threatened presenters and studio hands with firearms and explosives. Sounds resembling shots were audible, as well as pleas and moans of pain. The police neutralised the scene and arrested 13 people.

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