Killings in Ecuador city cause morgue to overflow with corpses, foul odours to spread
- Guayaquil morgue’s refrigeration unit failed as it was storing about 200 bodies in excess of its capacity
Spiralling criminal violence in one of Ecuador’s most dangerous cities caused a build-up of unidentified and unclaimed bodies that exceeded the capacity of Guayaquil’s main morgue, officials confirmed Thursday.
The government of Guayas, the province of which Guayaquil is the capital, said Thursday afternoon in a statement that “the problem that has arisen in recent days in the morgue” has been resolved, its first acknowledgement the problem existed in the first place.
Local television and media reports had said about 200 bodies in excess of the Forensic Medicine Service morgue’s capacity had accumulated and a refrigeration unit used to store them had failed, causing nearby residents to complain of foul odours.
Ecuadorian media outlets Ecuavisa and Teleamazonas broadcast images taken with drones showing morgue workers removing bodies from a refrigerated container and spraying the container’s entrance with a product the outlets said was meant to neutralise the putrid liquids seeping out of it.
The government statement did not say how many bodies were involved but said a malfunctioning refrigerated unit where bodies are kept when the morgue is full had been repaired.
During the past week, forensic services collected 40 bodies that were victims of violence in a city that in 2023 recorded a total of 3,762 violent deaths, according to police figures.
