Ecuador orders the detention of 16 soldiers charged with the disappearance of 4 children

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — An Ecuadorean judge Tuesday ordered the arrest of 16 soldiers charged with the disappearance of four children who went missing three weeks ago in the coastal city of Guayaquil.

A request to detain the soldiers was made by Ecuador’s Attorney General’s office. In a statement on X the law enforcement agency said its request had been granted, adding that the detained soldiers would be transferred from a military base to a prison.

The case of the missing children has shaken Ecuador, a nation where the military has been increasingly deployed to patrol cities and fight drug gangs amid growing levels of violence.

The children, aged 11 to 15, were reported missing by their parents on Dec. 8, after they went to play soccer in a working-class sector of Guayaquil and did not return home.

A video taken by a security camera shows a military patrol taking two of the children into the back of a pickup truck and driving off with them.

Ecuador’s military has admitted the children were in its custody and claimed they were arrested because they were participating in a robbery attempt.

The military says the children were released on the same night they were detained and that gangs are to blame for their disappearance.

Meanwhile, detectives last week found four charred bodies near a military base on the outskirts of Guayaquil. On Tuesday afternoon, the Attorney General's office said that genetic tests conducted on the bodies, whose faces and fingerprints were unrecognizable, determined that the corpses were those of the missing children.

Prosecutors working on the case said they will now have to seek an additional hearing with a judge to issue new charges against the detained soldiers, who will possibly face murder charges.

“This is a tough moment for the families" said Billy Navarrete, the director of the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, a nongovernmental organization that has followed the case and provided advice to the childrens' relatives. “We will not stop until we find truth and justice.”

The case of the four missing children has led to protests in Guayaquil and shocked a nation struggling to contain homicides, extortion and human rights abuses.

Violence in Ecuador worsened in January after a gang leader escaped from prison amid deadly riots. Two days later, members of another drug gang attacked a television channel and interrupted a live broadcast to make demands to the government.

President Daniel Noboa’s government has leaned on the military to curb gang violence. However, the military has now been implicated in several abuses, including the disappearance of two children in August in the central province of Los Rios, and the case of a 19-year-old who was fatally shot by the military at a checkpoint on a road in Guayaquil.

Noboa, a Guayaquil native, is planning to run for re-election in February. The conservative politician, who belongs to one of the country's wealthiest families, has promised to reduce violence and solve power shortages that have hurt Ecuador's economy.

A mural of a child and the Spanish message "Where are they?" cover a wall in protest of the disappearance of four children who were last seen on Dec. 8 running away from a military convoy in Guayaquil, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

Luis Arroyo, left, carries photos of his two missing sons, Ismael and Josué, who were last seen on Dec. 8 running away from a military convoy with two other youths, as he protests with his family and activists outside the prosecutor's office in Guayaquil, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

A protester holds soccer cleats and wears a shirt that reads in Spanish "We're soccer players, not delinquents" outside the court holding a hearing for the soldiers accused of being connected to the disappearance of four children in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. The children disappeared after playing soccer. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

Protesters gather outside the court that is holding a hearing for the soldiers accused of being connected to the disappearance of four children in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. The children disappeared after playing soccer. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

Protesters gather outside the court that is holding a hearing for the soldiers accused of being connected to the disappearance of four children in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. The sign reads in Spansh: "Where are the four from Guayaquil?" (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

Protesters shout as lawyers enter court for a hearing for the soldiers accused of being connected to the disappearance of four children in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The pilot of a small plane attempted to make an emergency landing shortly after takeoff before crashing through the roof of a building in Southern California, according to air traffic control audio that includes panicked gasping and a female voice saying, “Oh my God,” moments before the crash.

The crash Thursday left two people dead and 19 injured. Authorities haven't yet identified the dead or confirmed whether they were on the plane.

The plane had just taken off from the Fullerton Municipal Airport when the pilot told the air traffic control tower, “Immediate landing required.”

The pilot initially told the air traffic controller that he planned to land on Runway 6. The air traffic controller then told another aircraft to turn away from that area and told the pilot he could land on either Runway 6 or 24. The pilot responded that he was going to land on Runway 24 instead. Moments later, panicked gasping and an “Oh my God” could be heard just before the audio went quiet.

Federal investigators said the aircraft asked for a return to the airport at about 900 feet (274 meters). It crashed about 1,000 feet (305 meters) short of Runway 24, through a sprawling furniture manufacturing building owned by Michael Nicholas Designs.

According to a preliminary Federal Aviation Administration report, the aircraft crashed under “unknown circumstances.” The plane is registered to a resident of Huntington Beach.

Eleven people were taken to hospitals, while eight were treated and released at the scene, police said. The injuries ranged from minor to very serious, said Michael Meacham, Fullerton deputy chief of fire operations. The two people who died were believed to have been on the plane and have not been identified.

Security camera footage from Rucci Forged, a wheel manufacturer across the street, shows the plane was tilted on its side as it dove into the building, causing a fiery explosion and a black plume of smoke.

Chris Villalobos, an airport operations worker, said the airplane’s owner was a regular at the airport with his own hangar and had frequently taken off from there.

The FAA identified the plane as a single-engine, four-seat Van’s RV-10, a popular home-built airplane sold in kit form. Investigators said the aircraft was built in 2011.

The airport in Fullerton has one runway and a heliport. Metrolink, a regional train line, is nearby and flanks a residential neighborhood and commercial warehouse buildings.

The Fullerton City Council posted a statement on social media calling the crash a “solemn tragedy.”

“The City of Fullerton is committed to providing support for all those affected and working with the agencies involved to uncover the details of this incident,” Mayor Fred Jung said in the statement. “We are grateful for the strength of our community and the compassion we show one another in times of crisis.”

Another four-seat plane crashed into a tree a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) from the airport in November while making an emergency landing shortly after takeoff, The Orange County Register reported. Both people on board suffered moderate injuries.

Fullerton is a city of about 140,000 people about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.

A mourner weeps as they are embraces before a memorial service at First Christian Church in Huntington Beach, Calif., Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, for those killed in a small plane crash the day before. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Mourners arrive for a memorial service at First Christian Church in Huntington Beach, Calif., Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, for those killed in a small plane crash the day before. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Daniel Villalbazo, left and Efrain Romero show photos on their mobile phones, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, in Fullerton, Calif., after witnessing a plane crash the day before at the warehouse of a commercial building where the accident happened. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Workers line up to enter a warehouse of a commercial furniture factory to collect their belongings Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, in Fullerton, Calif., where a small plane crashed the day before. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

People attend a vigil at First Christian Church in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, for those killed in a small plane crash taking off from the Fullerton Municipal Airport the day before. (Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register via AP)

Mourners embrace before a memorial service at First Christian Church in Huntington Beach, Calif., Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, for those killed in a small plane crash the day before. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

People stand outside of a building where a plane crash occurred Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Fullerton, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

Workers stand near police lines at the scene of a small plane crash, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Fullerton, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

A firefighter enters a building where a plane crash occurred Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Fullerton, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

Firefighter stage outside a building where a plane crash occurred Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Fullerton, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

Firefighter walk down a ladder outside a building where a plane crash occurred Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Fullerton, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

Firefighters load a person onto an ambulance after a small plane crashed into a commercial building on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Fullerton, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Firefighters stage outside a building where a plane crash occurred, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Fullerton, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

Firefighters respond to a commercial building where a small plane crashed on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Fullerton, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

A woman is carried on a stretcher near the site of a plane crash, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Fullerton, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)