Ecuadorian police have freed 49 people held by a criminal organization that forced them to work in a mine, an official source said.

“During an operation against organized crime, the police managed to rescue 49 people who had been kidnapped by the dangerous Los Lobos gang in the province of Azuay,” the country’s presidency said on Platform X.

The Los Lobos (“The Wolves”) cartel is a gang involved in drug trafficking and other criminal activities in Ecuador.

According to the presidency, weapons and explosives were also seized. Photos from the police operation, in a mountainous location in the Andes, show armed police and soldiers entering the mine tunnels to free the hostages. Colonel Jose Vargas, the head of the local police, said they had to “fend off an armed attack by several people”.

Among the freed hostages are a child and three women.

Human remains were also found near the mine, in the community of Camilo Ponce Enriques.