Both local residents and foreigners are among the missing individuals, El Comercio cited him as saying.
Most of them disappeared in the Ecuadorian provinces of Manabi and Esmeraldas, struck hard by the disaster, and only 12 people among the missing have been found so far, the country’s Red Cross head noted.
"These are tourists, businessmen, workers, some of them have been blocked on the road and could not move, they are currently with their families," Juan Jose Alencastro, the humanitarian movement’s national coordinator, was quoted by the local news portal.
A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Ecuador on Saturday, with its epicenter near the town of Pedernales. The death toll from the powerful earthquake has risen to 413 by now, according to the country's authorities data.
