At least 31 inmates died at an Ecuador prison on Sunday afternoon after violent, armed riots broke out, authorities said.

According to a statement shared by the country's prisons authority, 27 prisoners in a jail in the port town of Machala died of asphyxiation and "immediate death by hanging", reported Reuters .

Earlier on Sunday, the prisons authority had reported four deaths in the same prison in a separate incident, which was brough under control after the deployment of a tactical unit of the police. Also Read | Severe tornado in Brazil's Parana damages homes; 6 killed, 700 injured | Watch

The prisons authority also said that the riot had been sparked by an attempted reorganization of prisoners in a new maximum security facility.

Ecuador is no stranger to prison riots, with

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