麻豆约拍

Masked gunmen have broken into a live television studio in Ecuador and threatened terrified staff.

Employees were forced onto the floor during the broadcast by the public television channel TC in the city of Guayaquil before the live feed cut out.

Police said they later freed all the staff and made 13 arrests. The station said two employees were injured.

At least 10 people have been killed since a 60-day state of emergency began in Ecuador on Monday.

The emergency was declared after a notorious gangster vanished from his prison cell. It is unclear whether the incident at the TV studio in Guayaquil was related to the disappearance from a prison in the same city of the boss of the Los Choneros gang, Adolfo Mac铆as Villamar, or Fito as he is better known.

Jos茅 Cabrero, one of the journalists caught up in the attack at TC, told Newsday: 鈥淚 am watching from my office鈥檚 window, seeing hundreds of autos trying to move with people hoping to get to their houses. Malls, shopping centres, all sorts of facilities have been shut down. The atmosphere is chaotic, and most people are terrorised鈥�I think this is a safe spot to be right now but of course this is something that has never happened before.鈥�

(Picture: Shows soldiers patrolling outside the premises of Ecuador's TC television channel after unidentified gunmen burst into the state-owned television studio live on air on January 9, 2024. Credit: Marcos Pin / AFP via Getty Images.)

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