By Lizbeth Diaz
MEXICO CITY, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Mexican authorities said on Friday that at least one body matching the characteristics of one of 10 mine workers who were kidnapped from a mine in northern Sinaloa state late last month was found in a clandestine grave.
Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said steps were being taken to confirm the victim’s identity and collect evidence from the grave in Concordia, where remains of several other bodies were found some 45 km (28 miles) east of the Pacific coast city of Mazatlan. Police were yet to formally identify any of the bodies.
Family members interviewed by Reuters said some of the workers at Canada’s Vizsla Silver Corp mine who went missing had received threats from organized crime groups in the area including the Chapitos, a faction of the Sinaloa cartel led by the sons of ex-Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Security Minister Omar Garcia confirmed last month that the area where the miners went missing is under the control of the Chapitos. The silver mine has been closed since the kidnapping.
Authorities have yet to establish a reason as to why the group was kidnapped on January 23.
Jaime Lopez, the uncle of Pablo Osorio, a 26-year-old engineer and one of the men who went missing, said as the family was poor they would not be able to afford a ransom.
“We are devastated,” he said, adding he had not wanted his nephew to go to Concordia as it was dangerous, but it was the only place that had responded to his job applications when he finished his degree three years ago. “We are going to do everything in our power to find him.”
“We can’t believe it,” he said in tears after hearing of the mass grave. Lopez said he was awaiting news from the authorities to find out whether his nephew was among the remains found at the site.
Mexico’s government sent over 1,000 troops, including soldiers and elite marines, to the area this weekend to locate the missing miners. On Thursday, four suspects were arrested over the case.
(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Editing by Sam Holmes)
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