Tragic death found on Sunday (10.08.2025) eight people lost their lives today when a group of armed men opened fire in front of nightclub entertainment in a rural community of southwest Equatorialas the police announced.
The shots took place in the rural area of Santa Loussa, in the coastal province of Guyia, which is considered one of the most dangerous in Ecuador. In fact, seven of the victims, aged 20 and 40, died at the nightclub and the eighth hospital, according to a police statement.
Among the dead is a man, Jorge Ukritho, brother of the mayor of the city of 38,000 residents and owner of the nightclub.
Authorities reported that heavily armed suspects arrived by motorcycles and two vehicles. It was not immediately known what caused the massacre, which occurred two days after the armed attack on a boat near the province of El Oro, along the southwestern coast of the country.
Four people had been killed in this incident and many others remain missing, as the suspects threw explosives on the boat. Dozens of people have been killed in recent months, most of them in four of the coastal provinces of Ecuador: Elo, Guyia, Tampa and Tampa.
In this area, the authorities arrested a hand -drawn person who was traveling with a van, but were unable to determine if this man was involved in the attack.
Police have not yet found the cause of the massacre.
The Town Hall of Santa Loussa declared national mourning on Sunday. “We are united in our sadness and prayer in the face of this violent act that hit our community,” the office of Mayor Ubald Uklithos wrote on social media.
Guaya is one of the four provinces in which President Daniel Nnopa recently extended the emergency situation for two months to combat gang violence.
Dozens of people have been killed in recent months, most of them in four coastal provinces of Ecuador: El Oro, Guayas, Manabí and Los Ríos. They all remain in an emergency.