Article Information Author, Andre Rhoden-Paul Role, BBC News4 4 May 2024, 07:45 BST
Updated 4 minutes ago
Mexican authorities have discovered three bodies in the Baja California area where two Australian brothers and an American were missing.
The FBI said the body was found in the town of Santo Tomas and has not yet been identified, the BBC’s US partner CBS News reported.
Jake, 30, and Callum Robinson, 33, from Perth, and American Jack Carter Lord, 30, were on a surfing holiday near the popular tourist city of Ensenada. They disappeared on April 27th.
On Thursday, Mexican police questioned a woman and two men in connection with the disappearance.
Forensic tests will be carried out at a state laboratory to determine the identity of the body, the Baja California State Prosecutor’s Office said.
“What I’m saying is that it’s very likely they are,” Baja California’s chief prosecutor María Elena Andrade Ramírez told Australia’s 9News.
“They were in a state of decomposition. That’s why we need to perform genetic testing.”
The office also announced Friday that an arrest warrant had been obtained for the charge of enforced disappearance.
So far, an abandoned tent, a burnt-out white pickup truck and a phone linked to the missing tourists have been discovered.
A team, including firefighters, was searching for the Robinson brothers and Mr Lord in a remote cliff area.
In a statement to CBS News, the FBI said it “cannot comment on specifics” but “can assure you that we are evaluating all information.”
The agency said it would “rigorously pursue these leads when they are credible. We are in contact with the families of the U.S. citizens and remain adamant that we will work with our international law enforcement partners to find answers.” “We are working on this,” he added.
Baja California is one of Mexico’s most violent states, with local drug gangs fighting over turf. But Ensenada’s surfing environment, located 90 minutes south of the U.S.-Mexico border, has long attracted tourists from California.
image captionEnsenada is 90 minutes south of the US-Mexico border
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