20 to 25 Corpses, Many With Bound Hands and Feet, Found in Abandoned Mexican Silver Mine

Recovering the victims has proven both difficult and dangerous.

Google Earth Overview of Taxco, Mexico

(TAXCO / SALEM) - Police officers and army soldiers in southern Mexico have had the grim task of recovering approximately two dozen bodies from a mine shaft near the city of Taxco, in the state of Guerrero.

This is a colonial town popular with tourists, but also increasingly mired in the ruthless drug trade that has claimed many lives here in recent years.

Not surprisingly, The BBC reports that the 20 to 25 victims found in the abandoned silver mine, are probably the victims of drug gang violence.

Officials on the scene say the bodies appeared to have been thrown down a ventilation shaft some 200m (650ft) deep.

Investigators believe the victims' bodies were placed there over a period of time.

Taxco in Guerrero state is considered central to the plague of deadly drug and cartel-related violence that has left approximately 23,000 dead here since 2006.

But citizens continue to work with authorities in this city, as well as many others in Mexico. Police learned about the bodies in the mine shaft through an informant last Friday.

The search and recovery of the bodies in the abandoned mine shaft has been risky for soldiers and police, who are using breathing equipment to help remain safe deep in the mine shaft.

It is reported that many of the corpses were found with their hands and feet bound, according to media reports in Mexico.

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