Mexican officials have vowed to search for more missing people after eight bodies were recently discovered at a resort in Cancun, Mexico.
Oscar Montes de Oca, the chief prosecutor for Mexico’s Quintana Roo state, where Cancun is located on the Caribbean coast, addressed the families of the missing on Tuesday and promised to conduct further searches and identifications, the Associated Press reported.
The US State Department’s online guide urges Americans to “exercise caution” when traveling to the United States Quintana Roo on felony and kidnapping charges. Fox News Digital asked the State Department on Thursday whether the guide would be updated in light of the gruesome discoveries in an area considered a hotspot for American and other international tourists.
“The US Department of State has no higher priority than the safety of US citizens abroad. We take seriously our obligation to provide U.S. citizens with clear, timely, and reliable information about every country in the world so they can make informed travel decisions,” a State Department spokesman told Fox News Digital on Thursday.
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“We encourage U.S. citizens considering travel to read the full Mexico travel advisory available on our website. Rather than providing an overall assessment of the risks in Mexico, we assess each state individually. Please see state summaries and advisor levels for specific travel information. Some areas of Mexico have an increased risk of crime and kidnapping, and we encourage travelers to read the entire guide,” the statement continued. “We are evaluating the facts on-site and are committed to updating our safety communications accordingly. We encourage US citizens traveling abroad to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP.state.gov) to receive important communications about their destination( e) direct, including timely notifications and updates of travel advice.”
“On March 13, the U.S. Mission to Mexico issued a travel alert reminding U.S. citizens of the factors to consider when planning their vacation when traveling through Mexico.”
Members of the Mexican Navy and National Guard patrol the tourist beach area of Cancun, Quintana Roo state, Mexico, March 18, 2023. Authorities said eight bodies were found in the area over the weekend. (ELIZABETH RUIZ/AFP via Getty Images)
The eight bodies were found during searches over the weekend as police searched wooded properties and even sinkhole ponds known as cenotes.
Montes de Oca said five of the bodies were found at what appeared to be an abandoned construction site. The bodies were found to have been dumped there from a week to two months ago. Three of the bodies at this location have been identified as previously reported missing.
At another location in a wooded area on the outskirts of Cancun, authorities found three skeletal remains. They have not yet been identified.
More than 112,000 people are missing in Mexico, and searches for secret grave sites have become common across the country. Unusually, they are now conducted in Cancun, the crown jewel of Mexico’s tourism industry.
Members of the Mexican Navy and National Guard patrol the tourist area of Cancun, Quintana Roo state, Mexico, March 17, 2023 during spring break. Eight bodies were reportedly found nearby over the weekend. (ELIZABETH RUIZ/AFP via Getty Images)
The bodies were found in a poor area about 10 miles from Cancun’s beach and hotel zone, but relatively closer to the resort’s airport.
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Similar searches were also conducted in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, a town south of Tulum.
Volunteer searchers, including relatives of missing persons and specially trained dogs, also took part in the searches together with investigators.
Warring drug gangs have fueled violence in Cancun and the resort-strewn Caribbean coast south of it.
Earlier this month, four men were killed in Cancun in a dispute related to drug gang rivalries. The bodies were found in the city’s Hotel Zone near the beach.
Tourists pose for a photo in front of a Cancun sign in Playa Delfines in the hotel zone of Cancun, Quintana Roo state, Mexico, November 8, 2022. Secret tombs are common elsewhere in Mexico but not typically found near Cancun. (DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)
In March, a US tourist was shot in the leg in the nearby town of Puerto Morelos.
The US State Department issued a travel advisory earlier this month, warning travelers to “exercise increased caution,” especially after dark, in resort towns like Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum.
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In 2022, two Canadians were killed in Playa del Carmen, apparently over debts between international drug and arms trafficking gangs. In 2021, two tourists — one an Indian-born California travel blogger and the other a German — were killed in Tulum when they appeared to be caught in the crossfire of a shootout between rival drug dealers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.