Thread: Mexicans recover 55 bodies from mine shaft (Now 77)

Mexican authorities recover 55 bodies from mine shaft

By the CNN Wire Staff
June 7, 2010 5:04 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Mexican authorities over the weekend found 55 bodies inside a mine ventilation shaft that was used as a mass grave in the city of Taxco, officials said Monday.

Bodies were first discovered in the mine shaft a week ago, and Monday's announcement concluded the weeklong recovery effort.

Of the 55 bodies, three were mummified, and two were skeletal remains, the Guerrero state attorney general's office said.

Only four of the bodies have been identified. Among them is David Bravo Mota, who was an area prison warden, officials said.

State Attorney General Albertico Guinto Sierra said he was asking families with missing loved ones to come to his office to begin a process of genetic testing to help identify the remaining bodies.

Meanwhile, authorities said they would explore the mine's 10 other ventilation shafts to see whether any more bodies were discarded there.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/ ... gletoolbar

Update from the BBC has the number at 77.

Mexico 'mass grave' has 77 bodies
Page last updated at 20:59 GMT, Monday, 7 June 2010 21:59 UK


Recovering the bodies is proving difficult and dangerous

Mexican police say 77 bodies have been recovered from an abandoned mine that appears to have been used as a mass grave by drugs gangs.

Human remains were first discovered in the silver mine near Taxco in Guerrero state at the end of May.

The bodies appeared to have been thrown down a 200m (650ft) ventilation shaft over a period of time, police said.

Only six have so far been identified - one was the director of a local prison.

Guerrero state is a focal point for drug-related violence that has claimed more than 22,000 lives in Mexico since 2006.

Police are now checking other mineshafts in the area to see if bodies have also been dumped there.

Morgues overwhelmed

Police and civil defence workers used breathing equipment to descend deep underground to recover the bodies.

They are taking photos and DNA samples in the hope of identifying the dead.

Some corpses have tattoos associated with the drugs gangs, police said.

Local morgues have been overwhelmed by the number of bodies.

While most of the drug-related violence over the past four years has been concentrated in northern Mexico along the border with the US, other regions have not been immune.

Guerrero, in the south and with a Pacific coastline, has also seen bloody turf wars for control of drug smuggling routes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/latin_ ... 260789.stm

I don't know how mexican authroties and the people who discover these gruesome scenes can sleep at night. 6 bodies in a cave with thier hearts cut out, cartels putting bodies in acid vats, decapitated bodies on the side of the road or rolling across dance floors, etc....

I am so grateful to live here where this kind of thing is a rarity.