Ulises Ruiz/AFP/Getty Images
Forensic experts work with several bags of human remains that were recovered from the bottom of a ravine by helicopter
CNN –
According to prosecutors in Jalisco, 45 bags of human remains with characteristics matching those of seven missing call center workers were discovered in a ravine in a Guadalajara suburb.
The Jalisco state attorney’s office, which is investigating the deaths, said it has preliminary information that the body parts “match the physical characteristics of some of the young people who are missing call center staff.”
Seven call center workers were reported missing between May 20 and 22 in the greater Guadalajara area of western Mexico.
Luis Joaquín Méndez Ruíz, a Jalisco prosecutor, said they found the human remains in sacks that had been dumped on a property with a very steep incline.
Forensic experts have yet to determine the number of victims and their identities.
The Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences is working with the families of the missing to determine identification of the human remains.
The country has been hit by an epidemic of enforced disappearances, with more than 100,000 Mexicans and migrants still missing.
In March, after four Americans were kidnapped and two died in Mexico, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador argued that Mexico was a safer country than the United States.
Kidnapping and human trafficking are also common in parts of Mexico, particularly in border areas, and Mexico’s overall homicide rate is among the highest in the world.