A British man has been "lynched and burned alive" by a mob in Ecuador after they stormed a police station where he was being held.
The incident occurred on Sunday in the remote Amazon village of Playas del Cuyabeno, according to local media reports.
The man had been arrested as a suspect in a fatal shooting before locals took matters into their own hands.
The victim of the shooting has been identified as Rodrigo Chavez, a local resident. Police said there "had been problems between the two men that died" before the incident.
The man had been arrested before the mob stormed the building
The British citizen was initially "intercepted and beaten by local residents" who accused him of the fatal shooting. Officers took him to the police station for his own protection at around 6am on Sunday.
Police were waiting for specialist units to transfer the man to Lago Agrio, about 120km away.
Around six hours later, at approximately 12:30pm, a mob of around 200 locals broke into the station, dragging the man into the street outside the building.
The crowd then set him on fire in what local news outlet Extra described as a "shocking act of apparent community justice."
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The victim of the shooting
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The suspected British national later died from his burns. A police chief covering Ecuador's Sucumbios province said officers "did everything humanly possible to safeguard the person who had been apprehended".
"Unfortunately the size of the mob exceeded the capacities of the seven police officers who were at the scene," he added.
Local reports suggest police chose not to intervene for fear the mob would harm them or damage state property.
The mob was armed with guns and makeshift weapons including stones, sticks and spears.
They also carried cans of petrol which they threatened to use to burn down the police station.
The local police chief said: "The locals acted after finding out the detainee was about to be transferred out of the area. We are still trying to establish the specific identity of the citizen we believe is a British national. We know that he was working and teaching English and was making reservations for tourists visiting the area."
No documents have yet been found to confirm his nationality or migration status.
Playas del Cuyabeno is located in the north-east of Ecuador in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve.
The village is extremely remote and only accessible by river. It serves as a tourist entry point to the reserve, which is the second largest of Ecuador's 56 national parks and protected areas.
