In a ravine in the western Mexican state of Jalisco, at least 45 bags filled with human remains have been discovered during a search for seven young people who were reported missing last week.
The horrifying find was made in the municipality of Zapopan, a suburb of Guadalajara, a major industrial hub, at the bottom of a 40-meter (120-foot) ravine.
The state prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Thursday that “forty-five bags with human remains have been extracted and belong to both male and female people.”
The remains were discovered while authorities were looking for two women and five men, all in their 30s and reported missing from the region on May 20.
Investigators discovered that all seven of the missing persons’ reports had been filed separately on different days, but that they had all been employed by the same call center, which was located close to where the remains were found.
The number of victims in the bags and their identities have not yet been determined by forensic experts.
Initial investigations indicate the call center may have engaged in illegal operations, and local media stated that officials had discovered marijuana, a cloth and a cleaning rag with what appeared to be blood stains, as well as paperwork on potential commercial activity.
Some of the human remains discovered in the bags, according to the authorities, appeared to resemble some of the missing young people.
In order to retrieve the remains from the gorge, firefighters and civil defense are using a helicopter and intend to keep doing so over the next few days.
According to data from the federal government, Jalisco has the highest number of missing persons’ reports in Mexico with 15,000, totaling more than 110,000 people. Additionally, there are countless unidentified remains in cemeteries and morgues all over the nation.
Mexico has experienced more violence than any other country, according to Manuel Rapalo, a news anchor reporting from Mexico City.
More than 40,000 people have been reported missing and roughly 156,000 people have been murdered during his four and a half years in office, according to Rapalo.
“Though Mexico has increased resources for searching for missing persons, the sheer number of disappeared is overwhelming, guaranteeing that without some solution to the crisis the search for loved ones will go on indefinitely,” he said.
Source-Aljazeera
