Mexican authorities have found 45 bags of human remains with characteristics that match seven missing people.
Authorities made the horrific discovery Tuesday in Zapopan, a suburb of Guadalajara, according to the state prosecutor’s office in the Mexican state of Jalisco.
“Forty-five bags with human remains have been extracted that belong to both male and female people,” the state prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
“Work in the Mirador Escondido neighborhood began yesterday afternoon when a black plastic bag with human remains was found,” the statement said.
The seven missing people were call center employees who were reported missing between May 20 and May 22 near Guadalajara in western Mexico. Authorities were looking for two women and six men, all around the age of 30.
The bodies appear to “match the physical characteristics of some of the missing employees of the call center,” the prosecutor’s office said.
The bags were found at the bottom of a steep ravine about 130 feet deep near the call center where the missing individuals worked.
Firefighters and civil defense airlifted some of the remains using a helicopter.
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Forensic teams are still working on figuring out how many victims there are, as well as their identities.
More than 100,000 people are currently missing in Mexico.
This is not the first time Mexican authorities have found dozens of bags of human remains in this area.
In 2021, about 70 bags containing the remains of 11 people were found in another area of Jalisco. In 2019, 119 bags with the remains of 29 people were found, also in Zapopan.
During just the first two months of this year, the remains of 33 people have been found in the Guadalajara area.
Back in March, four Americans were kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel in Matamoros, Mexico.
Two of the Americans were killed, and their bodies were given to U.S. diplomatic authorities. The two survivors returned to the U.S. and were treated at a hospital.
A few weeks after the kidnapping, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador defended his country, arguing that Mexico is safer than the U.S.
“Mexico is safer than the United States. There is no issue with traveling safely through Mexico. That’s something the U.S. citizens also know, just like our fellow Mexicans that live in the U.S.,” the Mexican president said.
The cartel later issued an apology and handed over five cartel members to local authorities.
“The [Gulf Cartel] apologizes to the society of Matamoros, the relatives of Ms. Areli, and the affected American people and families,” the cartel wrote.
“The Gulf Cartel, Scorpion Group, strongly condemns the events of last Friday,” the letter reads. “For this reason, we decided to hand over those directly involved and responsible for the acts, who at all times acted under their own determination and indiscipline and against the rules in which the [Gulf Cartel] always operates.”
Several Mexican cities top the list for the highest murder rates in the world.
Jalisco suffers from high levels of violence, especially due to the presence of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, considered by the Mexican government to be one of the most dangerous organized crime groups in the country.