Dozens of migrants are said to have vanished in the Mexican desert while hoping to cross into the US by way of the Texas border.
The group had left the small northern Mexican town of Coyame to enter the vast Chihuahuan desert on September 25. They were trying to make the treacherous and dangerous crossing to the US, The Daily Beast reported.
AFP
Of the group, 14-year-old boy was the only migrant not to have disappeared when trying to cross the Chihuahuan desert in September – dubbed by some as the new “Bermuda Triangle”.
One migrant, named Javier Ricardo, had reportedly called his wife telling her that he had paid around $1,200 (25,000 pesos) to a smuggler who would “guide” him to Texas, according to Ciudad Diario.
That was the last time anyone heard from a member of the group who disappeared.
There were 13 migrants in total and only the young boy was let go after being intercepted by armed and hooded men.
He told the Mexican authorities that the group was stopped in the middle of the desert by several heavily armed men in three pickup trucks. The 12 migrants and the smuggler were taken away. He, however, was let go after the captors reportedly noticed the boy was underage, as per The Daily Beast.
AFP
José Luis Pallares, Javier Ricardo López Rodríguez, Amador Aguilar Mendoza, Emmanuel Aguilar Bailón, are also among the missing.
Lorenzo Abraham González Mendoza; Benigno Alberto López Castro, Luis Carlos Islas Villegas, Alán Ricardo Salas Torres, and Daniel Villa Rascón have not yet been found.
After a month-long search, efforts were reportedly abandoned by the Mexican federal government.
Yet, family members of the missing remain determined as they continue to search for their loved ones.
Adobe Stock
The search operations have now resumed in hopes of finding the remains of missing migrants, according to the Dallas Morning News.
The aerial search, via a Blackhawk helicopter, was conducted by Mexico’s military and state investigators in an isolated area that included Lomas de Arena and Bosque Bonito, according to a statement by the attorney general’s office.
Mexico has been marred by drug violence for decades. It’s now believed that cartels are fighting over smuggling routes because human smuggling has become a big business.
Source link : https://www.indiatimes.com/amp/trending/social-relevance/dozens-vanish-without-trace-chihuahuan-desert-bermuda-triangle-557612.html
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Publish date : 2021-12-24 03:00:00
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