Ecuador riot: Anxious families wait for the news out side prison compound

Desperate families have gathered at a jail in Ecuador which police are trying to bring under control after fighting left at least 118 inmates dead.

The battle first broke out on Tuesday, with prisoners using explosives and firearms on each other.

Families are seeking news on loved ones but with some victims decapitated or dismembered, identifying the bodies could take days.

The gang-related violence is the worst in Ecuador's history.

What is happening inside the Guayas prison complex, also known as the Litoral Penitentiary, is unclear.

Officials said on Wednesday the jail was back under their control, but early on Thursday neighbours said they had heard explosions and gunshots.

Late on Thursday, police regained control of nfolded

Police managed to get six cooks, who were trapped in the wing where the fight happened, to safety and only two police officers were injured.

Ecuador's prison director, Bolívar Garzón, said that police had entered the prison on Tuesday and found 24 bodies.

According to Mr Garzón, there was renewed shooting inside the prison overnight Tuesday into Wednesday and as police went through the prison wings one by one, they found scores more bodies, bringing the death toll to 116.

With security forces inside and outside of the jail, families of inmates face an anxious wait.

Some of the relatives said they had been sent photos and video from inside the prison but had been given no official confirmation as to whether their family member was among the victims.

Newspaper El Comercio reported that one woman had recognised her husband in one of the videos. She said he was one of those who had been decapitated.

lineprison following a major operation involving 900 officers and army soldiers. the authorities said.

Police commander Tannya Varela told Reuters the death toll could rise further as security forces work their way through the jail.

"We have not yet completed the intervention in the penitentiary, so it is possible that there are other bodies inside, and some of the injured could die from their wounds," she said.