A British man has reportedly been lynched and burned alive by a mob in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest region. He was said to have been killed after a group stormed a police station where he had been taken into custody. Local reports said the unnamed male was held by members of the local community on suspicion of shooting another person dead. He is said to have been taken from a police station by the same individuals around six hours after his arrest and set alight in front of law enforcement personnel.

The British national is said to have been handed over to police around 6am local time yesterday after being held by locals, before being attacked just after midday the same day. Ecuadorian newspaper Extra reported officers who formally arrested him had decided not to intervene when a baying mob forced their way into the local police station ahead of his transfer out of the area to avoid being attacked themselves.

It added that police reinforcements had taken time to reach the area because of its remoteness and difficult access.

Ecuadorian newspaper Ecuavisa said the killing happened in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve in Ecuador’s Amazon region, a popular eco-tourism area.

It is the second largest reserve of the South American country’s 56 national parks and protected areas, and is located in the Putumayo Canton in Sucumbios Province.

A local TV station, reporting on the two deaths, said: “In the early hours of Sunday, April 20, in the parish of Playas de Cuyabeno, at the closure of an event that took place for the anniversary of the Kichwa community, an incident occurred where as a result two people died.

“Those two people were a community member from the area and another person of British nationality who died due to the severity of his burns.”

The Ecuadorian man killed has been named locally as Rodrigo Chavez.

It was not immediately clear if any arrests had taken place following the death of the man, described as a British national.