– Three bodies found in area where foreign surfers disappeared
The FBI said Friday that three bodies had been found in northwest Mexico, where two Australian surfers and an American have been wanted for a week after being reported missing.
A Mexican sailor stands guard near where human remains were found near La Bocana beach in Santo Tomas, Baja California, Mexico, May 3, 2024.
AFP
“We can confirm that three deceased individuals were found in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a Mexican region bordering the United States, American federal police told AFP, without revealing their identities.
Journalists deployed to the area saw rescue teams and forensic experts extract, using a pulley system, what appeared to be bodies covered in mud from a well in a cliff above above the Pacific.
Earlier in the day, Mexican authorities, in collaboration with the FBI, had intensified their search for two Australian brothers, Jake and Callum Robinson, and an American, Jack Carter.
The three surf enthusiasts were last seen on April 27 in Bocana de Santo Tomas, a seaside resort in the municipality of Ensenada, in this region of Mexico marked by the violence of drug trafficking cartels.
“Very worrying” disappearances
The mother of the two Australians, Debra Robinson, indicated on Facebook that they never arrived at the accommodation they had booked. On Thursday, authorities in Baja California indicated that three Mexicans had been arrested and were being questioned in connection with these disappearances.
“A white pickup truck was found, along with other evidence,” the state prosecutor said in a statement, adding that the investigation was taking place in coordination with American and Australian authorities.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the disappearances as “very worrying” on Friday. “We hope that these brothers will be found safe and sound, but there are real concerns about their disappearance,” he told Channel 7 television in Sydney.
White sand and cartels
The famous beaches of Baja California are frequented by many American vacationers, who take advantage of the proximity to the border with the United States. But this state is also one of the most violent in Mexico due to the presence of criminal groups.
In November 2015, two Australian surfers, Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman, were killed in the state of Sinaloa, in northwestern Mexico. And in March 2023, suspected members of the Gulf Cartel kidnapped four Americans in the city of Matamoros, on the American border. Two of them were killed.
AFP
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