QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) — Police in Ecuador have freed 49 people that drug gangsters were holding hostage in a mine, officials said Friday.

The victims rescued Wednesday include one minor and three women, and were being held by a gang called Los Lobos, one of the main drug trafficking organizations in Ecuador, President Daniel Noboa’s office said on X.

The captives were mine workers found with their hands and feet bound. A police source said they were held for two days.

The raid took place in Azuay province in the Andean region, and police seized a large quantity of arms and explosives, Noboa’s office said.

It published video footage of what it said was the operation to free the hostages.

Armed police and soldiers are seen entering an underground chamber of the mine. During the raid they came under attack from several assailants, said the police chief for the region, Jose Vargas.

Ecuador is enduring an unprecedented wave of violence linked to drug trafficking.

With ports on the Pacific, the country serves as a transport point for cocaine produced in Colombia and Peru and sent to the United States and Europe.