SAVAGES: Armed Ecuadorian Cartel Holds News Show Members Hostage Live

The cartel's reign of terror in Ecuador continues. A bat-sh*t crazy video of gang members interrupting a live news broadcast in Ecuador went viral on Tuesday.

Ecuador faces severe problems with protecting its people as gang violence mounts following a prominent cartel leader's escape from prison on Sunday.

(Warning: Disturbing Footage Shown)

The country's gone full 'Escape from New York,' resulting in one of the most jaw-dropping segments caught on live television.

Masked men broke into the TC Television station in Ecuador's largest city, Guayaquil, armed with guns and several explosives. Reporters from the Ecuadorian news program and staffers lay flat on the ground, held at gunpoint by the gang members. The workers begged for help as the live footage relayed the hostage scene to viewers at home.

CREDITO: TC Station

One man wearing a shotgun pressed the barrel against a reporter as the man pled for his life.

"They want to kill us all," a reporter cried. "Don't shoot, please!" another person yelled.

One armed man said, "We are on the air so that they know that we do not play with the mafia."

The broadcast cut out after nine minutes.

WATCH:

Authorities arrived at the television station 30 minutes after the scene broke. Thankfully, police apprehended the gunmen. Members caught in the hostage situation reunited with family members after the tense scene.

Additional footage from X shows the national police escorting the men out of the news station.

The terror broadcast live on television Tuesday highlighted Ecuador's losing battle against gang violence.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa called for a 60-day 'a state of emergency' after the country's most dangerous prisoner, Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, escaped prison on Sunday. Curfews are in place as national police face a wave of gang-related violence, compounded by Villamar's escape.

The 'Los Choneros' gang leader, also known as 'Fito,' escaped from a low-security prison — serving an ongoing 34-year sentence since 2011. Fito was scheduled to be transferred to a maximum security prison. The gang leader was suspected of carrying out the cold-blooded murder of an Ecuadorian presidential candidate in August.