Latest news with #Ecuavisa
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Yahoo
'British man' dragged out of police station and burned to death in Ecuador
A British man was beaten and set on fire after being dragged out of a police station in Ecuador, according to local reports. The man had been arrested as a suspect in a fatal shooting and taken to a police station in Playas del Cuyabeno, a remote village in the Amazon rainforest. The British citizen was intercepted by a group of residents who began beating him and he was moved into a police station to protect him at around 6am on Sunday. Around six hours later, while officers were waiting for specialist units to arrive a group broke into the station and captured the suspect, before setting him on fire in the street, Ecuadorian TV network Ecuavisa reported. Read More: Ecuador's deadly paradise where 'Brit was lynched and burned alive' Newspaper Extra reported that a foreign citizen had been 'lynched and burned' to death by a group of residents in front of the police station, during the 'shocking act of apparent community justice'. The British national died from his burns, Extra reported. It is understood that specialist units had been slow to arrive at the scene due to how remote the village is. Playas del Cuyabeno is in the north-east of Ecuador and is only accessible by river, reports added. The Foreign Office has been contacted for comment.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Yahoo
British man ‘lynched by mob' after being dragged out of Ecuador police station
A British man died in Ecuador after he was dragged out of a police station and lynched by a mob, local media reported. The man, whose identity wasn't disclosed, was in custody at a police station in the riverside village of Playas del Cuyabeno, a tourist entry point to the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, when a mob broke in, dragged him out to the street, killed him, and set him on fire. He was reportedly suspected of involvement in a fatal shooting. The mob set the man on fire right outside the police station at around 12.30pm on 20 April, causing his death, in what local news outlet Extra described as a 'shocking act of apparent community justice'. A police report identified the victim only as an 'English national'. Police confirmed the man had been arrested early in the morning on 20 April. He had been 'intercepted and beaten by local residents' who accused him of fatally shooting a local person. Police took him to the station for his own safety while waiting for specialist units to transfer him to Lago Agrio, around 120km away. According to Extra, the specialist units were 'slow to arrive due to the geographical conditions of the area' despite 'advance warning of the risk to the detainee'. Nearly six hours after the arrest, a mob of local villagers reportedly forced their way into the police station. Police officers at the station chose not to intervene lest the mob harmed them or damaged state property, allowing them to take the man, the outlet said. Another Ecuadorian media outlet, Ecuavisa, reported that the mob took the man at around 12.30pm local time and lit him on fire outside the police station. He died of the burns a few hours later. The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was reported to be investigating the reports and collaborating with local authorities to verify the man's identity. The Independent has reached out to the FCDO for comment.
The Independent
22-04-2025
- The Independent
British man ‘lynched by mob' after being dragged out of Ecuador police station
A British man died in Ecuador after he was dragged out of a police station and lynched by a mob, local media reported. The man, whose identity wasn't disclosed, was in custody at a police station in the riverside village of Playas del Cuyabeno, a tourist entry point to the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, when a mob broke in, dragged him out to the street, killed him, and set him on fire. He was reportedly suspected of involvement in a fatal shooting. The mob set the man on fire right outside the police station at around 12.30pm on 20 April, causing his death, in what local news outlet Extra described as a 'shocking act of apparent community justice'. A police report identified the victim only as an 'English national'. Police confirmed the man had been arrested early in the morning on 20 April. He had been 'intercepted and beaten by local residents' who accused him of fatally shooting a local person. Police took him to the station for his own safety while waiting for specialist units to transfer him to Lago Agrio, around 120km away. According to Extra, the specialist units were 'slow to arrive due to the geographical conditions of the area' despite 'advance warning of the risk to the detainee'. Nearly six hours after the arrest, a mob of local villagers reportedly forced their way into the police station. Police officers at the station chose not to intervene lest the mob harmed them or damaged state property, allowing them to take the man, the outlet said. Another Ecuadorian media outlet, Ecuavisa, reported that the mob took the man at around 12.30pm local time and lit him on fire outside the police station. He died of the burns a few hours later. The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was reported to be investigating the reports and collaborating with local authorities to verify the man's identity. The Independent has reached out to the FCDO for comment.
Daily Mail
22-04-2025
- Daily Mail
Probe launched after 'Brit is LYNCHED and burned alive in Ecuador' after mob hauled him out of police station
An investigation has been launched into the vicious murder of a man in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, allegedly carried out by a baying mob seeking justice over an alleged shooting. The crowd allegedly lynched the man, who has been identified in local reports as a British national, and burned him alive after storming a police station where he had been taken into custody. The unnamed male, widely reported to be 'English', was held by uniformed officers on suspicion of shooting a local man dead, reports said. But six hours after his arrest a crowd stormed the police station, dragged him onto the street and and set him alight in front of officers who said they were afraid to intervene. A source told MailOnline that the UK's Foreign Office is following up on these reports, and that it is working with local authorities to confirm details of the man's murder. Respected Ecuadorian newspaper Ecuavisa said the horror killing happened in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve in Ecuador's Amazon region, which is a popular eco-tourism area. It is the second largest reserve of the South American country's 56 national parks and protected areas, and is located in the Putamayo Canton in Sucumbios Province. The British national is said to have been handed over to police by locals around 6am local time on Sunday before being murdered just after midday. Do you know what happened? Email: Ecuadorian newspaper Extra reported officers who arrested him decided not to intervene when a baying mob forced their way into the police station ahead of his transfer out of the area. They stood back, the newspaper said, in order to avoid being attacked themselves and to avoid additional damage to state property. It said police reinforcements had taken time to reach the area because of its remoteness and difficult access. A local TV station, reporting on the two deaths, said: 'In the early hours of Sunday, April 20, in the parish of Playas de Cuyabeno, at the closure of an event that took place for the anniversary of the Kichwa community, an incident occurred where as a result two people died. 'Those two people were a community member from the area and another person of British nationality who died due to the severity of his burns.' The Ecuadorian man killed has been named locally as Rodrigo Chavez. A third man was reportedly arrested over the Briton's killing. Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo reported that police were yet to issue a statement, as they were still gathering information on the case. Violence in the Amazonian province where the lynching reportedly happened has dramatically escalated as gangs demonstrate their brutal influence, leaving behind bullet-ridden and tied up bodies, with victims often showing signs of torture. Local authorities declared a state of emergency last year after 159 people were killed in Sucumbios alone, a nearly 70 per cent increase in violent deaths in the region, most of which police say are gang-related as the groups battle for territory. The Foreign Office warns against 'all but essential travel' to scenic areas around the Ecuador-Colombia border like the Sucumbios province 'due to the presence of organised crime linked to the production and trafficking of drugs'. Latin America has for decades been synonymous with the drug trade thanks to ruthless cartels and criminal gangs whose power and brutality cannot by tamed by the government or the armed forces. Some countries like Ecuador had managed to remain relatively peaceful for decades, despite bordering the notorious cocaine hotspots of Colombia and Peru. But the coastal nation has seen murder rates soar in recent years as drug lords and criminal masterminds dug their hooks into fresh territory and exploited its ports for maximum profit.
Sky News
21-04-2025
- Sky News
'British man' dies after being dragged out of police station in Ecuador
A "British man" has died after being beaten and set on fire by a mob in Ecuador, according to reports by media in the South American country. According to reports, the man - who has not been officially identified - had been detained by police after being accused of being involved in a fatal shooting. Ecuadorian news outlet Ecuavisa reported that the man had been taken to a police station Playas del Cuyabeno, a remote village in the Amazon rainforest. While there, a group broke into the station and took the man away. He was then set on fire in the street, it is reported, and died from his burns. Another local report, from said that specialist police units had been slow to arrive due to the geographical conditions of the area - which is accessible by river. According to reports, police officers at the station apparently decided they could not intervene when the mob arrived out of concerns for their own safety. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has been approached for comment.
